Sick Kiddo...Bad Mommy

I shouldn't be surprised that M is not feeling well - Mom and I have both been sick since well before Christmas. BUT, it's still frustrating! She got home from camp this weekend, and started complaining that she didn't feel well. I told her that it was bad form to go away to camp for the weekend then miss school on Monday for being sick, therefore she was going unless I saw a fever or body fluids. I saw neither, and sent her to school with the understanding that she could call me to pick her up AFTER HER WORK WAS DONE if she still wasn't feeling well. The call came at just before 1pm. Apparently she'd been telling the teacher all morning she didn't feel well and the teacher finally gave in after lunch. UGH! Luckily I was all done with my work (mostly) for the day and could go get her. Of course, I had a sick Mom here hanging out while her house was being cleaned.

I got M an appt at the doctor's office and Dr. E says that she definately has some sinus crud going on. She isn't sure it's antibiotic ready, but wrote the Rx just in case it doesn't get better. She suggested a couple things as well, but said it could also just be exhaustion from the weekend. So, we came home and I made M take a nap for an hour (downstairs, on the couch so there's not playing or other stuff in the bedroom). She slept for maybe half of that, but still that's not too bad.

Last nite she was complaining that she "felt terrible" and that no one believed her. I tried to explain that we did believe her, especially since all of us also "feel terrible", unfortunately we have to go on with our lives and can't wait till we start to feel better. Mom explained to her that her job is going to school, so she needs to go ahead and go to her "job" today, the same way the rest of us are, despite feeling terrible. That just added to the drama of "no on believes me". OH BOY!

I did let her stay home today - let her sleep in (she was up till after 10 last nite b/c she couldn't sleep), but then made her take a shower and get dressed. The shower always helps Mom and I feel better, so it would stand to reason it would also help her. After her shower, that was when all hell broke loose...

I told her no TV today. OMG! You would have thought I had told her that she had to scrub the toilets with her tongue by the reaction. "I ALWAYS GET TV WHEN I'M SICK...." Well, not today you don't. Thought she had come to terms with this by setting up her Polly Pockets all over the dining room table and playing with them for a couple hours, then it was TV time again. I explained to her no TV today and she flipped out on me AGAIN. This time it ended with her yelling at me "IT'S LIKE YOU HATE ME!" and running upstairs to her bedroom. Haven't seen her since...

I was nice enough to ask her if, upon hearing the no TV deal this morning, if she wanted to go to school after all. She told me that just b/c she couldn't watch TV at home didn't mean that "POOF!" she was feeling better.

She isn't acting sick - I'm not saying that she doesn't probably feel like crap, trust me, I know how that is, I'm just saying that she could probably suffer through school just as easily as she's suffering through Polly Pockets, playing games on my old PalmPilot, yelling at me, running off, etc.

SO - does that make me a bad Mom that I won't let my "sick kid" watch TV while staying home sick? Am I punishing her for being "sick"? OR, am I just letting her know that being sick isn't a "paid vacation" from school? She's been "sick" several times in the past few weeks, so we came up with the "fever/body fluids" rule - if there's no fever and no body fluid "issues", then there's no TV when you're home sick. Of course, the original plan was that she'd have to lay in bed or on the couch and read a book, but I've obviously lightened up on that a bit allowing her to play Polly Pockets today. I don't think she's faking it, I believe that she truly feels like crap, but I also think that she can suck it up and deal like the rest of us. Trust me, I'd love to stay home sick until I can shake this thing I've got, but do you realize that I'd have been home sick since the beginning of December had I done that? NOT AN OPTION!!!!!

This parenting thing sure is fun, isn't it?