To Send..Or Not To Send The Kids To School

Posted by Vulnadia on Jan 25, 2011 at 08:42 AM That is my dilemma, my problem as of late...you see, they have super awful allergies as it turns out... They get headaches from the congestion, they have a little cough...some larger than others... They have snot...some occasionally, sometimes it runs with the force of the rapids... It's the sort of stuff that forces me to have to rotate medications just to keep them from becoming immune to it...to keep things working... & therein lies the problem...some of my kids will take some meds with no problem...melt-away strips are the wave o the future, let me tell ya, EVERYONE loves those... But this cough medicine...the wonder drug that really can help that cough & the congestion...it's NASTY...I dread even trying to give it to my kids...and I cannot help but wonder if adding flavor would even help things... You see, it stings...it's gross, it's soo sharp I can SMELL the stinging part when I open the bottle...eeeewwww...and it's my doctor's med-du-jour...she LOVES giving it to them...thinks it's the best remedy EVER...and it aint cheap either... What fun...so Kaiden HATES this cough med & refuses to take it...you can't even hold him down long enough to try & pinch his tiny elven nose to get him to open his mouth...theoretically that is...it's just not worth it to even entertain the idea of doing so save for literary purpose!!! So, Kaiden gets what he calls "Circle medicine" which is benadryl of some sort...usually generic because we use a lot of everything this time of year!!! Vivienne and Kian, poor brave dears, will actually subject themselves to the cough medicine in hopes of feeling better... Thankfully everyone loves their motrin & other things along that line of meds... And then there is the HUGE problem of the school....ah the well-meaning sweet ladies in the office... You see, my kids are triplets...& I warned EVERYONE up there that they love to work together, a unified effort...all for one, one for all, you get my drift...you've heard the stories... & now there is this thing called "SICK" that can get you sent home from school to hang out with Mum and do fun things...or seemingly fun things... And my kids have figured this all out quite by accident...you see, when they are cold, they get pasty white & their eyes appear HUGE...sometimes even red-rimmed...yet perfectly fine save for their allergies... But my kids are GREAT at appearing sad & pathetic and great at getting orphan points... Which is what is happening this past week...they have learned that they have LEVERAGE... First Kian tried it out...he found himself with a bit of a cough...which he then learned that he could cough stuff up...and spit it out...into the potty...and then he learned to be flamboyant about it...virtually appearing as sad as can be hugging that potty while coughing up phlegm, looking as pitiful as he could muster...did I mention they are very good actors??? So, of course Kian was able to convince the teacher's aid that he was sick...and Kaiden soon followed suit...Kaiden figured out he could act like he does at home (sweet & cute and nice) and that teacher's aid would find his behavior different and sick-like and of course since he wasn't acting like himself (cute & cuddly as opposed to his usually independent stubborn self) she sent him right to the office without passing go or collecting $200... I got the call for Kaiden first on Thursday...then I got another call to warn me that Kian was right there with him after about 15 minutes... I let them know that the kids had woken up that morning discussing that it would be someone elses turn to be "Sick" today...yes they are very democratic in thought... I tried explaining that allergies do not equal fever/throwing up which is the real grounds for being sent home from school... But of course once they had Kai in the office, they had decided to try & take his temperature (which he would not allow of course) so a pratt-fall filled chase around the office ensued with the adults trying to explain what it is they wanted to do to him and him finding them hysterically funny and reacting in kind...Charlie Chaplin would have been proud from what I gathered from all the accounts of it... So today, poor Vivienne woke up with her fair share of a big cough...carefully honed and developed over the past few days...I ALMOST kept her home, but her forhead is cool and she isn't doing anything possibly disruptive classwise (such as insisting on coughing stuff up into the toilet dramatically on a regular basis as Kian had previously) so I sent her on to school... I expect a call any minute now to come collect a wan, sickly looking Baby Vivienne, but we shall see...they were each well-informed and advised that tomorrow if they are NOT sick, they shall get to ride a schoolbus & go on a field trip to a cool concert by their school-music cd people... So MAYBE they will stay at school and not try & feign truly sick... It starts...what am I going to do with my kids? They are far smarter than the office staff, sadly...which I appreciate them wanting them to stay home when they are sick, but they have to meet me halfway here and understand that my trio often will try & pull fast ones over on you...you gotta watch them & learn to call them on shenanigans when you see it!!! Anyone else going through something like this with their little ones? I really thought they were a bit too young to give this one a whirl, but I suppose not after this past week!!!