Mrs. McTavish looked out the window. "It's a lovely day. Who would like to go for a wee walk to the park with their mum?"

Her children jumped up and down with excitement. "I want to go, Mummy," said Jock.

"I want to go too, Mummy," Fiona said, clapping her hands.

Alan and Shona wanted to go too. Wee Annie was asleep in her pram. "Then let's go." Mrs. McTavish opened the door and pushed the pram outside. "Before we go, you need to follow some rules. Everyone must hold hands and stay close to me. You can't go anywhere by yourself and must play safely on the swings. Can you all do that?"

All four promised they would. As they walked down the street, Fiona said, "Mummy, is it going to rain today. It always rains."

"I hope it doesn't rain until after we get back," Jock said.

"I want an ice lolly, Mummy. Can we have one at the park? My favorite is banana," Alan said.

"You can all have an ice lolly and a sweetie if you follow the rules. The park is just around the next corner." Mummy pushed her pram into the park and sat on a bench. The children ran off to play. Wee Annie woke up and Mrs. McTavish picked her up and held her. "Do you want your bottle, Annie?" Mummy smiled at the baby. Annie drank her bottle and Mrs. McTavish put her back in the pram. Annie watched the leaves quivering in the breeze. When Mummy looked up she saw Alan and Shona and Fiona, but didn't see Jock anywhere. "Fiona, where's Jock?"

Fiona was swinging high. "I don't know, Mummy. He's not here anymore."

Mrs. McTavish asked Alan and Shona. They hadn't seen Jock either. She had to gather her children together and walk around the park looking for her lad. She found him sitting near the ice lolly man. "Jock! What are you doing here? I couldn't find you. Now we have to go home because you didn't follow the rules. You went off by yourself."

"But, Mummy, I want an ice lolly. You said I could have one." Jock whined.

"You can't have one now, Jock. I will buy one for Shona, Alan and Fiona, but because you didn't follow the rules, you don't get one." Mrs. McTavish bought one for the other children and they licked them all the way home. Jock cried. When they got home she sent the others to play in their bedrooms and talked to Jock. "Mummy has five children, Jock. I have to have rules so I can keep an eye on you and know you're safe. You wandered off and you frightened me. I was worried that you were lost or something bad had happened to you." She gave Jock a hug. He said he was sorry and promised to follow the rules from then on.

The next day they went to the park and Jock stayed right next to his mummy.