The meanest Mom

My daughter told me last night that I was the meanest Mom. She was joking with me, of course. At least I hope she was.
Yes, she was. We were talking about how horrible I was, as she and her siblings stood up in the back seat, no seat belts and no car seats. (now before all the mothers unite to tar and feather me.... they didn't have seat belts in cars when my kids were little). Guess she doesn't remember my yelling at them to sit down. But she went on about how they could have been mere missiles had any one crashed into us.
And then she went on into the days of our pickups. Just sit down and hang on, she said was all the instructions they got. That they would be bounced all over the pickup as we went down the country roads. That had she fell out it couldn't have been any worse than bumping against the spare tire and wheel wells. She doesn't mention that her siblings were there with her and if I recall right, she had to sit between two of them, much to their disgust, as they thought she should fend for herself, like they had to. Also, funny, I remember being in the back with them. And we sang songs, that is when we weren't yelling at my husband to at least miss some of the bumps and pot holes.
And then there was the fighting over who got to sit near the windows. And general yelling and stuff that kids do. And many, many times we sat on the side of the road. No, we weren't having car trouble. I was having kid trouble. I refuse to drive another mile until it was quiet in the car. Also I remember this sweet darling who was complaining about me, who I dearly love.... when she said her stomach was hot, well, you never saw a station wagon find a way across 4 lanes of traffic in such a hurry. And the mother jump out of the car, open the back door and almost throwing my darling daughter out. Because a hot stomach meant I had exactly 40 seconds to get her out of the car, or it was upchuck time.
Yep, I was the most horrible mom... I am sure the rest of them can fill you in on other horrible times in their lives. When I wanted to know exactly where they were. Who they were with. And made sure they were. And made them eat the meals, of veggies, salads, and meats. Made them wash their hands and do chores. Yep, I was Mom the ogre.