When my oldest boy was in the third or fourth grade I was increasingly becoming concerned about his hearing. It seemed that he often said, “What” or just didn’t hear me at all.

I asked the school nurse to schedule him for a hearing test. At the end of the day she had him tested, she asked me to come in and sit down to discuss the results. She told me that his hearing tested good and that he was simply ignoring me. What a relief, I think.

I was a paranoid mom, worrying that something would happen to my boys. To my defense, they were young at the time that John Walsh’s son was taken. We were all a bit scared.

I would tell my son over and over to wear a helmet when he was on the skateboard or bicycle; to watch for car; etc. Years later I was on the phone with him and he started yelling at his young step-brother to put a helmet on. Ha Ha Ha … he listened, heard me, he just chose what to let me know what he had heard.