When I was growing up, my mom stayed at home. This granted her the flexibility to keep us out of school even if we had something as small as the sniffles.
My girls are not so fortunate. Since my husband and I both work, they sometimes go to school with Tylenol and a prayer.
This also means that if their illness does not warrant school exclusion, they are certainly going to school.
Stomachache without vomiting, we will be picking you up as soon as possible. You have a runny nose and cough but no fever, we will see you this afternoon.
Our children have learned faking or exaggerating an illness will result in the same dreaded outcome. Time to grab your backpack, we do not want to be late!
This has forced them to have resilience, which is good. But at times it has also caused me some regrets. Shoving a sick kid out the door is less than pleasant. If they return home later and their symptoms are worse, my guilt looms large.
Today, was one such day. It started when my six year old had an unusually tough night sleeping. I thought it was strange, but I laid down next to her and we both fell back to sleep. After all, the alarm clock would be buzzing soon.
In the morning, she woke up complaining of a headache. My husband and I convinced ourselves it was allergies. We gave her Ibuprofen and sent her on her way.
When she got picked up from school, it was clear we had made a mistake. She looked pretty bad. The teacher told us she sat out during recess. Our daughter’s only comment was she felt cold when everyone else was hot.
Parents of the year we are not.
The inevitable overcompensation followed. When she woke up from her fever-induced nap we pumped her full of fast food and medicine. The fever broke but our guilt persisted.
Tonight I have no words of wisdom, but I do have remorse.
What kind of mother sends their kid to school all day with a fever?
Apparently, the answer today is me.
K