Mar 19 2008
How NOT to make a classic Mommy mistake
I went into the kids room yesterday to get them up and ready for school. Ethan was awake and fiddling around in his bed and Jocelyn was still fast asleep. Her nose was stuffed up with dried boogers and her face was flushed and hot. In short, she didn’t look good.
I sat down next to her and she barely fluttered her eyes. I felt her head = hot.
“Good morning sweetie, how’re you doing?”
“Not good.”
“Tired?”
“Yes.”
— Notice right here, I start off with leading queries. Never, under ANY circumstance, ask if a child under 18 is tired, when it’s time to get them up and ready for school.
“You don’t look so good, are you feeling sick?”
— GAH! HAVE I LEARNED NOTHING IN ALL MY YEARS OF MOTHERING?
“Yes. I feel SICK.”
I make her sit up and try in vain to peer into her throat. I probe her neck and feel palpable engorged pea-sized glands.
I go and talk to James. I tell her that she is flushed with fever and looks like death. She’d better stay home.
I go back to the room and inform her that in my professional mother opinion, she should stay home from school today. And since Ethan is on spring break (no school, daycare only) and informed us yesterday upon arriving home that he was “totally bored,” I thought I’d let him stay home too.
30 minutes later, they are both running around like maniacs, Jocelyn looks totally normal (nothing that 10 minutes AWAKE and a good face washing didn’t cure) and I am banging my head against the wall.
I took her to the doctor anyway, but she confirmed that it was viral and nothing to worry about.
You would think I was a ROOKIE! NEVER diagnose a child when they just wake up and are known grumpy wakers! NEVER lead the child down the “you look sick, are you sick?” line of questioning! AT LEAST wait 20 minutes to see if they’re still pissing and moaning and to see if the fever sticks, and most importantly.. never… NEVER mention the “stay at home” phrase until you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that they need to stay at home, because once that one is out, THERE’S NO TAKING IT BACK.
Rookie mistake. I am ashamed.
3 Responses to “How NOT to make a classic Mommy mistake”
Yeah, but think of it this way: I am learning (for the future) from that mistake.
Arjewtino’s last blog post..Ten percent of a million visitors can’t be wrong
Yes… I’ve done this. I have done this so many times that today…even though my son swore to me that he was sick this morning… I was sure he would be fine… got him dressed… sent him to school… only to have the phone ringing in my office as I was walking through the door…
Yes, it was his school and he was throwing up everywhere…
So, you never know… don’t feel bad and I hope that the day wasn’t too crazy.
Amy’s last blog post..Mattisms….
This is so true.
However, I seem to be erring WAY on the “stay home when they don’t need it” side lately. Like.. for the last 8 months!
It wasn’t bad though 🙂 I made the wise decision to not bother trying to work from home and just took the day off instead. We had fun 🙂 It was nice.