When your own kids are sick...

[gcj]

My advice isn't about balancing your sick kids with dcks nor is it about when to close if your kids are sick......I need help on deciding if your kids are REALLY sick or if they have the Monday morning disease. I've been fooled many-a-time especially by my 7 year old son who always fesses us the next day. SOOO, of course I am very skeptical. I made a new rule about only staying home if they're puking, having diahrea or if they have a fever,....but this morning they were both moping around, putting on a really good act and my 5 year old daughter out and out refused to get dressed! They ended up staying home with VERY strict rules about staying upstairs...they're not allowed on the same level of the house as daycare, no video games, no hyper playing, 2 hour naps with daycare. I even gave them their lunch boxes and told them to have their snacks upstairs. And they've been warned that my neighbour is home today, so as soon as they act well, I can drive them to school. When my babies are sick, I just want to hug them and hold them and love them....I'm not a cold person, but how do you know when it's real and when you're being played?

[cfred]

I think, as parents, we've all been duped with the fake illnesses. Once I caught on, I started employing a technique my parents used......if you're home sick, you're in bed. No tv. No video games. No magically recovering when your siblings come home from school. Sorry, but if you're sick, you're laying in bed being sick until the next day. Now if your child is really ill, it'll be pretty apparent and they'll just lay around and sleep anyway. For a child faking it, that's a torturously long day! I found it worked pretty well. Mine are teens now and learned a long, long time ago not to try to put one over on me And really, like you said, unless they're running a fever, have wicked diarrhea or are vomiting, they can probably take some advil and push through. After all, out in the real world, we have to carry on with our responsibilities, even when we don't feel 100% or would rather just take a personal day. That's life

[gcj]

think I'm going to make good on my threat and bring them to school when I put dcks down.....my neighbour is on standby...

[playfelt]

I had the go to school and if you really can't cope call and you can come home. Generally once they were there they sucked it up and lasted the day. They had to walk home at noon - oldest would be taken out to bring home sibling and then usually given permission to stay home for the afternoon. The thought of having to walk home instead of making due and taking the bus home generally helped with the faking it.

Rarely does a child just wake up sick. There has generally been a lead up to it as in the day or evening before they were tired, whiny, didn't eat well or some other clue.

Other thing to look at is if they are sick enough to stay home today or is really tomorrow when they will be too sick for school.

[sunnydays]

Ahhh yes...my oldest, who is now 17, put me through this so so so many times when he was young! In fact, he had "schoolitis" so bad that in kindergarten they had called me so many times to pick him up for stomachaches, that his teacher and I had to develop a strategy to deal with it. She would send him to the sick room and he would lie there for a bit and if he threw up, they would call me...if not, he would go back to his classroom after some quiet time. I endured at least three or four years of morning stomachaches with my son! I believe he had anxiety about going to school and probably really did get a knot in his stomach...but I learned to just send him anyway. It is stressful when they do this! My second, who is 4, sometimes also says he is not feeling well in the morning, although he loves school...I htink he just hates being rushed in the morning. Unless he has a fever or is vomiting, I send him...I don't want to give him the idea that he can trick me or stay home whenever he wants.

[Inspired by Reggio]

I agree with Cfred ... this was our rule when we were kids as well and it worked wonders because kids learn fast it is better to suck it up and go to school when you just have a case of the 'Monday school sucks blues' ... we had to stay in our bed and 'rest' ALL DAY LONG and we got 'BRAT diet of bananas, rice, apples, toast and MAYBE some soup .... if we suddenly started 'feeling better' mid day our options were to either 'stay in bed and make sure you are truly rested' OR we got assigned CHORES to help around the house since we were missing school my stepmother felt we could learn about 'home economics' instead and if we were better 'after supper' than we got HOMEWORK to make up from the lines ... both were incentives to only stay home from school unless you were TRULY sick and prepared to sleep all day long and enjoy a BRAT diet

[gcj]

Thanks for the ideas. Will definitely be using these!

[Momof4]

Good job gcj, I like what you did with your children by taking away privileges and making them act like they were sick if they were claiming to be sick. That's what I would have done too. It must be more fun to be at school than in their beds all day. But what a stressor for you! My kids confessed after they were in their 20's of sooooo many things they used to do to me that I never wanted to know about, haha. But I wasn't an angel when I was a kid either, teehee!

[mom-in-alberta]

Yep... I have one of those, too. He just does not like getting up in the mornings. So we initiated the "stay in bed ALL DAY" rule. You are only allowed books if you are that sick. I will bring you your food (and it's probably not going to be mini pizzas, like we are having. It will be soup!).

[gcj]

Can I just tell you all how much I love school?!?! They're back at school today and my happy, quiet, easy little group is such a relief. I can NOT believe that 6 kids including my own 2 () used to be my "normal" day. That balancing act is so difficult. Hats off to all the moms who still have their own kids in daycare.

I do this for my guys and do have been home with them and I don't regret it for 1 single second, but boy oh boy, I LOVE school!