If you’ve seen my Facebook and/or Twitter statuses, you’ve likely surmised that I’m home today with my kid. He’d been throwing up a bit during the morning, but he’s feeling better now. We’re taking it easy today — playing games, watching TV, and some binge drinking reading a little later. My morning has involved some intense laundry and carpet cleanup. Fun.
Throwing up, however, was probably the best thing to happen to his digestive system at the time. It’s nasty and gross, but sometimes it’s simply a necessity to purge “the bad stuff” from one’s system. He felt much better after it happened. (Until he threw up again. And then he felt better. Again.) No fever. No lethargy. We probably could have sent him to school today. It’s a place where all of his friends are. It’s after a long weekend. And he looks forward to P.E. on Tuesdays.
But he didn’t go to school today. We adhered to school policy: since he threw up, he stays at home for at least a day. And he stays home until he has recovered. This is certainly not the easy way out for us: I’m taking personal leave from school as I spend the day with him. And it’s not like I can run errands while he recovers. But hey – rules are rules. He stays home.
It was on my mind when I read this story in today’s Washington Post. It’s a piece which appears every year in most newspapers — a light-hearted, feel-good story congratulating one or a few students who have gone through thirteen years from kindergarten through twelfth grade without being marked absent. Kind of like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in reverse.
Don’t get me wrong — I think it’s a nice sentiment. And I’m all for people attending school as much as possible. But there was something in the article which made me wonder if some people take this a bit too far:
Austin, 18, thinks he knows the moment he decided nothing would keep him from school. It was about fifth grade, the night before a standardized test. “I was puking buckets, and my Mom asked, ‘Do you want to stay home?’ And I said, ‘No, I’ve got to go to school, I’ve got to take the test.’ ”
First and foremost: there seems to be a natural inclination to associate vomit with “buckets.” So much so that I become nauseated by the word “buckets” alone. Why not move to a more classy word to describe the magnitude of scale of blowing chunks? “I was spewing plastic souvenir beer cups” could be a suitable alternative.
But it’s the whole notion of someone really that sick — I mean puking buckets — deciding that school is more important than recovering from being sick which gives me a touch of indigestion.
Furthermore, it’s the parents of these kids who don’t step in and realize that letting their kids go to school under such circumstances would be irresponsible not only to their own offspring but also to the kids of other parents who stir up the bile into my esophagus.
I mean — puking buckets! What the hell are they thinking? Does one let her son go to school simply because he wants to? Because discouraging what is perceived as such a chore might send the wrong message to that kid?
I understand that I’m one of the fortunate parents out there who is lucky enough to have a job which allows me a limited amount of paid leave for sickness and doctors’ appointments for myself and members of my immediate family. Not all parents have such a luxury available to them. And I can only imagine that the decision to keep one’s kid home when s/he is sick is a tough one. That being said — I would only hope that the welfare of the child would come first when the case is cut and dry. If the kid has a fever? If the kid has been vomiting? That should be a no-brainer.
This doesn’t just apply to attendance at school. I work in very close quarters with my colleagues. When one of us is sick and comes to work if potentially affects everyone. Some of our management gets this and encourages us to stay home when we’re sick (again, taking advantage of our paid leave). But we have some management in place who all but harrass those who opt to take a sick day to recoup. Perhaps they think that the system is ripe for abuse and are trying to make sure that absenteeism doesn’t run rampant. But while they’re doing this, they’re discouraging the contagious from staying home — and promoting the passage of germs from one employee to another.
Is it commendable to have a perfect attendance record? Sure. But at what cost?
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Ok, so these kids went forever without taking a sick day. And? Is that gonna get them anywhere in life? Don’t think so. I have yet to be asked in an interview for a real job, “Did you or did you not have perfect attendance in school? Answer incorrectly and you will NOT get this job!” And I would hate for my biggest accomplishment in life to be that I went all those years with perfect attendance. I hope that I achieve more in my lifetime.
Also, I think it’s important to take a day off every once in a while, if nothing more than just to have some time to yourself. I hate when people say, “I never have any time to myself!” Well, I say, “Make time!” Even if means taking a personal day from work.
Just like I’ve never been asked, “Did you have perfect attendance?” I’ve never seen a co-worker be rewarded for showing up every day for the last however many years to work. Not saying it doesn’t happen in some work places, but I have yet to see it in mine.
My point to this long drawn out comment, who cares about perfect attendance in the real world? When is it important once you start paying your own bills? Wait. Were you just talking about kids and perfect attendance? I took it to another level didn’t I?
Janelles last blog post..Jon & Kate Have Taken Over My TV- Help!
I hope your son starts feeling better. Or should should I say, stops puking? Hopefully you didn’t have to clean up the horrible vomit trail….there is nothing worse than that!!!
Beckys last blog post..I LOVE Carbs
One more reason that I’m happy with the NO VACANCY sign in my uterus.
😉
Hillys last blog post..Paper Tigers Carrying Dead Birds…
Interestingly, Hilly, I, too, have a no vacancy sign in my uterus. 🙂
Also, people who do not shield my well kid from their sick kid? Pure. Evil.
Faiqas last blog post..Wal Mart’s Battle in the Wilderness
I think perfect attendance records are weird. It’s hard to believe some kid never got sick for years and years. Maybe one year, but multiple years? No – more than likely, those parents sent their kid no matter what. I hate it when parents bitch because they have to take off work when their kid is sick. It’s your kid, for craps’ sake! I realize it’s a hassle to call off yourself, but GAH!
There’s my rant.
🙂
Otherwise, I just hope sick people stay away from me AND my kid.
Hope your boy feels better soon! Lots of Phineas and Ferb today?!
Sybil Laws last blog post..Birthday!
@Faiqa – Hahaha, we totally do have the same sign…but for very different reasons!
Shiny, why the hell don’t you have a “reply to each commenter” function on your blog? The person who designed this template is a slackass!
Hillys last blog post..Paper Tigers Carrying Dead Birds…
Janelle: The WashPost story had people discussing exactly that in the comments: if the kid’s main accomplishment in school is being known for simply showing up — is that really the best thing? I mean, I suppose there are worse things to be known for in school. But to me, a perfect attendance is kind of like getting a 200 on your SATs for writing your name and filling in the appropriate ovals.
Becky: Thanks — This time around my wife got the most of it. However, that evening one of our cats hairballed all over the carpet. And the other one peed on the bed. It was the magical night of gross bodily fluids… Whee!
Hilly and Faiqa – the NO VACANCY Twins: You two crack me up. Just because…
Sybil Law: Lots of P&F (including the episode where Doofenshmirtz creates his own island out of felt — my favorite so far) and Cars and Crazy Taxi on the computer. Twas a memorable day. Sadly, now it’s my turn to come down with a cold. Le Blech…
Hilly: There’s a simpler reason I don’t have that plugin — it has nothing to do with the incompetence of my personal blog designer whatsoever. The long and short of it: I would have to actually reply to comments. Which I never do.
heh,daughter the 1st(11) has been so close to not missing a day of school, only to be smacked down by the type B flu in April. I should have waited until November to take her to the doc for flu-mist, maybe.
Sometimes this same daughter’s tummy decides that everything she has eaten in the last 48 hours must come Outa There Right Now. It’s frightening, I say! No fever, no other symptoms at all, just a major purge of her digestive system. A few hours later she feels better and is very hungry. I’m just glad she makes it to the bathroom or the trashcan in her bedroom.
Yeah, I’m on the opposite side I think. I went to school even when sick sometimes, and it wasn’t my parents making me. I just didn’t like being thought of as “sick”. Weak. Ready to be eliminated if the choice came up that day.
Once I realized that I could take sick days without the stigma, I was “sick” more often. I hated it.
And maybe that kid puking buckets had actually eated a few toy GI Joe buckets earlier, and he was just spitting them out. You never know with kids.
🙂
whalls last blog post..Moe Say: “ick”
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