September 6, 2008
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Yesterday I got THE call…
“Mom, my tummy hurts and my ear aches, can you come and get me?”
So I pack up the littlest monster and off to the school I went.
I picked her up, brought her home, and took her temperature, NORMAL. I had the talk with her…
“Isabelle! Are you faking?!” She gave me a sheepish look so I continued the lecture.
“In life we have to go on even when we don’t feel like it, Daddy goes to work with a hurt back, sometimes I don’t feel good. Unless you blow chunks, have an accident, or are bleeding profusely, you stay in school… Since you said your sick and your home sick, then you go to your room and stay there, you can read or play in there but no television or computer, your sick.”
Yes, I am a mean Mama!
She played, read and slept in her room, and later that night when I wasn’t at home she blew chunks all over the hard wood floors in the living room and Ben cleaned it up.
When I got home I went in her room to see how she was. “I hear you threw up?”
To which Isabelle replied “Does that mean I was sick Mom?”
I laughed and said “Didn’t you know?!”
Did you play sick as a child?
What do you do when your own child tells you they don’t feel well?
Do you always believe them?
Comments (39)
In junior high I was the queen of making up reasons not to be there. We’d mix vegetable soup and yogurt (gross I know), have some in our mouth, spew it on the floor in the nurses office….automatic “go home now”, until they caught on. The next we learned was to use a lighter to raise the temperature on the thermometer…until one time my friend left it on too long…lol….she should have been dead at 108*F. My youngest son was the one who always said “I don’t feel well, my head hurts.” He had migraines since I can remember but not like most people get them. His were very sporadic. It got to the point where if he didn’t have a temp? He went to school, and there were occasions where I didn’t believe him and the nurse sent him home later…I think that happens to all of us.
In every child’s life .. there is a ” sick day ” … or two … I think just about everyone can confess to ” playing sick ” at some point in time … as a child, and an adult.
When my children complain of being sick; I instruct them to attempt school, and go to the school nurse if they are not feeling better ,., this is a tedious effort; as I am working, and picking them up may mean spending time in the nurse’s office … so unless they have a physical problem, vomiting, etc … injury .. this is my speech.
When I have allowed them to stay home; I pop in to see what they are doing … If what I see is not ” sick worthy ” … ( depending on the time ) I make them go to school. If not, they are grounded from television and the computer. Usually, kids have a pattern for being ” sick ” …
We were allowed to stay home once a month from school,but we were not allowed outside til the next day.My mom liked when we stayed home!
oh man but look at her face in that picture….poor thing
man Ill have to get back to you when she starts and I know she will
@RubyBogonia - Oh good nice to know someone else feels that way too! Now I don’t feel like such an ogre! lol
@triciaplumley - man I wish I knew you when I was a kid.
we homeschooled till high school and even at our hardest days, we only worked about 4 hours. by high school I allowed them one mental health day a month-they were so bored, they needed it.
My wife and I have done that before where are daughter said she was sick and we did not quite believe her untill she blew chunks. It is a constant reminder when she says her stomach hurts. My wife was mortafied that she did not believe her.
I on the other had never got away with trying to play sick. My mom must have passed something along to my wife because playing sick does not work with her either. The luck!
@angi1972 - Oh by no means .. you aren’t an ogre; parents have to assert themselves here, or we will be over run .. and out maneuvered.
I played sick alot. A couple different times i remember pouring salsa in the toilet to make it look like i puked, another time placing the thermometer on a lit light bulb to increase the temperature etc etc etc
The only time I tried to fake sick, I went home, and I actually came down with the flu. So since then I haven’t tried that. I will sometimes skip school though, but it has to be for a really good reason, and I have to check with my parents first and get the okay. My brother on the other hand fakes sick everytime I stay home because I’m actually sick, but you can tell when he is lying about being sick.
I was actually sick alot as a kid, so the few times I ‘faked’ it, my mom never caught on. My kids tried to fake it a few times, but I was like you….if they’re staying home from school, then no tv, no computer, just stay in their room all day.
That’s funny, I got the same call yesterday. And I didn’t believe her either, until I got sick today.
Her dad picked her up, but then he let her go outside! (sigh) I would have made her stay in her room, myself.
Heh. I think I tried to be sick when ever presidential fitness testing bar hang/ chin up day came around.
I had almost perfect attendance in school and was fortunately rarely sick. I don’t ever recall faking it.
As an adult however I did take some “mental health” days.
oh,that little stinker.
I was a nurse of course so they never got by me and I was mean also.
The joys of parenting. It’s difficult at best. And then some.
Oh no countdown. It’s from Donnie Darko, its when Frank tells Donnie when the world will end.
I never played sick until I hit 6th grade… and even then I ONLY did it on April Fool’s Day.
So for the next 6 years, I played sick on April Fool’s Day ((Middle school and High School)).
I dont think it’ll be a big deal in college though…
But I doubt I’ll make my kids go to school on april fools either.. it’s too much to deal with at school.
Guys are so mean on that day.
“Wanna go out with me?”
“Sure.”
“April Fools!!”
Yeah, that totally boosts the self esteem.
I never played sick – probably because I did get sick -pneumonia, tonsilitis, strep throat… Also my mother was a teacher and was very perceptive. My sister tried it several times but it wasn’t such a “good time” after all. My kids had almost perfect attendance in school – Son#2 missed his first day of school in 6th grade – he wanted to go, insisted he was O.K. But he had a temp. of 103 and couldn’t swallow. He missed 1 day. He missed a week the next year due to a broken arm that couldn’t be cast so had to avoid any contact until it had stabilized (visualize violinist/geek in 7th grade among thugs). Son#1 didn’t miss a day until his sophomore yr – came down with food poisoning – couldn’t decide which end to put on the pot – would have gone if he wasn’t so weak.
Yuor daughter looks just like my sister when she was in 3rd grade. They could have been twins…
Shoot Ang, I was ALWAYS wanting to go to school, even in the face of being tortured…argh. Thanks for your good wishes, I can only hope Jay and I can get through the ups and downs of a relationship…we feel committed, and that’s what counts. So far, it’s quite pretty! *blush* G’night, dear one.
They say I blew chunks! I don’t remember!
I think we all played sick at some point. My own 3 have plenty of times…
hehe, cute excuse… well i never did! In fact i loved going to school then. Now, my second child-hannah- always makes an excuse and i never believed it. Haha! I love you post!
Well they thought and even I thought I was making up reasons for not being in school but come to find out I really -was- sick! XD I’m allergic to like everything including wheat/gluten and well that’s hard to not eat. My mother was the best. My mom beileved that I needed personal days (I have a panic disorder) and treated me gently. So if I said I was sick, she let me stay home or would come and get me and take care of me at home. My temp. is normaly very low (like 95′s 96′s) so it never looks like I have a fever but for me 99 is a BIG deal! So my high school always made me angry when they would yell at me for saying I was sick when I wasn’t. “99 isn’t THAT high Miss Allen!”
I think if my child pretened to be sick, I would find out exactly whey they didn’t want to be in school. Sometimes it is just a “I don’t wanna be there” but I think more often then not there’s a damn good reason. Maybe they just want some extra attention? Or perhaps they’re being bothered in school? Who knows. But I would find out but not really punish them. I liked your answer to it, she could go in her room and play or sleep or whatever but no computer/tv. I like that one. My mom would do that as well. And really a lot of the time, I honestly didn’t feel well and so all I wanted to do was sleep or just be with her.
Oh yeah, I was a really good faker! Matthew has a tendency to fake,and with kids you just never know. I’ve been known to call his bluff….but sometimes I AM wrong and the poor oke really is sick. Becky hasn’t learned about faking yet – LOL!
BTW : I got an award. And now I have presented one to you. Check out my latest blog for details! (((HUGS)))
I never tried as a child. Now, as a teenager…
My daughter (Little One) tends to try to play sick, so I don’t tend to believe her until I see real symptoms for myself. (This is usually fairly easy as she gets lethargic with any real illness, but I discovered, a few times, that she was telling the truth when she “blew chunks”.)
She looks like she could be the “queen” of sheepish grins!
When we were sick, mom put us to bed. When our kids were sick, we did the same thing. If a child is sick then bed rest is the best home remedy. If that doesn’t help, a trip to the doctor with lotsa probes and needles usually does the trick.
Well of course I did, but also had a ‘mean mom’
Working nights I only get ‘sick’ now the day before duck or deer season.
I never faked it. I’d like to every day now.
Yeah, I thought I was playing sick in 2nd grade. I had Chicken Pox.. Ewwww.
I don’t remember doing it as a kid. If I was too sick to go to school, I was too sick to come out of my tv-less bedroom.
Once my youngest daughter decided to pretend to get sick at school. She went to the nurse’s office, and they stuck a thermometer in her mouth. They foolishly left the room where she stuck it against a light bulb, and it went to 106*. I had to come get her NOW. She was pretty coherient for 106* tho. I know, because I have had a 106* fever before. It was not fun. It was amazing how quickly her fever had gone down when *I* took it when we got home. She was really hoping for McDonald’s for some reason. She got soup. She was extremely dissapointed. I don’t think she tried that again… but knowing her, who knows! She still didn’t get McD’s tho!
I am sure I did fake being sick becaus eI always hated school, but I don’t remember anything about it. My daughter, however, LOVES school and for the most part, I think would willingly slouch off to school with a raging headache and vomit still clinging to her lips, so if she does say she’s sick, I take her very seriously. I say, “Ok, you can stay in school or we can take you to the doctor to have your stomach removed. Which is it?” If she’s hurting enough to have her tummy removed, I pull her from school. But I don’t have her stomach removed.
hahahahaha. My D1 always hated going to church and said she was sick every week. I never listened. Until one fateful morning, when I had let her drink red Kool Aid for breakfast. She blew chow all over the floor in the doorway to her Sunday School class. Nice. I never had to fake sick. If I didn’t want to go to school (which wasn’t often) I just told my mom I didn’t want to go and she didn’t make me. I would have faked it, though, if that hadn’t worked.
so far my son hasn’t figured out you can “play” sick… but there have been days that he’s told me he didn’t want to go to school… I simply explain there are going to always be things we don’t want to do but do anyway… and he sorta just sighs, rolls his eyes and gets ready to go… but w/ ET’s Sensory Integration I’ve kept him home on days that I just know he’s not doing well (this usually has followed a trip south to visit an unnamed parent
)
right now, I’m pretty good at telling when they don’t feel good, but I have a feeling that the youngest one is going to be the one who I’m going to have problems w/…
i learned not to be so harsh with my kids after i realized that they can’t express themselves as well as they intuitively know what is wrong with them.
Unless I could produce vomit, I wasn’t allowed to stay home sick. It’s not like it is today, where when a kid has a fever, the teachers demand they stay home. I’m lucky, my kids don’t fake because they love school!
PS– Hope she is feeling better soon!
I didn’t have to play sick for the most part- my mother would say “I got my education and made something out of myself so it’s up to you if you go or not, it’s up to you to get yours.” of course this was around middle school so she made me responcible and that made me have almost perfect attendence. When i just flat out didn’t want to go she never made me- even wrote the excuses but i don’t think that made her a bad mother instead she taught me more about life- about working because it’s the right thing to do, because it’s good to have a work ethic, and because it is up to me to make the most of each day not because i’m afraid of what she’d say. These lessons stayed with me. I don’t have kids but if i ever do and there anything like me i’ll try this same trick. My mother was a jedi with her mind tricks.