I’ve got one of my kids home sick from school today. The morning started off as well as any morning around here tends to start. Better actually, because amazingly, my daughter actually got up and got dressed without any blood spewing from my eye sockets or eardrums. That’s how I measure success around this house…if I don’t have to Google “aneurysm” it’s a good day.
I should have known something was up.
We took Molly off one of her medications yesterday after seeing the doctor and declaring it to be “total crap.” I asked about how to stop it, and the doctor didn’t think we needed to wean her off since it is a pretty low dose, but she failed to mention the withdrawal side effects.
I won’t bore you with the details, but things went off the rails, she refused to go to school, and we were pretty sure it was just like all the other times that we couldn’t get her out the door. But then she went back to sleep, which was odd. And she has been complaining all day that she is dizzy.
I was a regular customer down in the school nurse’s office myself (back when we had those…along with wood-paneled station wagons and Block Parents) as a kid, so I’m quite familiar with the dramatization of illness to get out of school. Not quite to Bueller standards, but if elementary schools gave out Oscars, I would definitely have some hardware for my mantel. Of course it was Catholic school, so I don’t think they were supposed to encourage lying. They were all over the miraculous recovery part though.
I was torn between thinking she is brilliant…can’t argue with feeling dizzy like you can with a fever…and being worried that she is really sick. I think that it is from coming off the meds, but we may never know. And as long as she is okay, I’m not sure that I even need to know. This kid has had a rough start to the new school year, and you add in coming off of a medication that was making her worse instead of better, and I think she deserves a quiet day off.
What is your policy with your kids…do they go to school unless the health department says they can’t, or are you more lenient and inclined to grant them the odd mental health day when you think they need one. And is your policy the same for all of your kids, or do you adjust it based on the temperament of each child?
2 Comments
It’s so hard to know when they are really sick and when they’re faking! By the end of last year, my rule was: “Don’t call me unless you barfed!” After several calls with a sore a belly, that is what I had to resort to to make it through a full week of work. Lo and behold, no barfing, no phone calls… guess the tough love worked!
Tara, you raise a good point about mental health days. I know I need them once in a while so maybe kids do too. They are under a lot of stress as well… not the same stress as we are but stress nonetheless. I’ll keep that in mind next time a sore belly complaint comes up! Thanks!!
I love that rule Jody! A round of stomach flu went through here later that weekend, and I’m still getting sore belly comments from 2 of the kids, so I am glad I kept her home, but I was not convinced at the time.