{Lucy, waiting for dinner to be served}
This past week. It started off fantastic! Lot’s of energy, lot’s of easy meals and now that we are pretty much on clean out the pantry, refrigerator and freezer mode…anything goes.
Green beans and rice? Yes please!
Bagged salad? Done!
Little bites. Easiest dinner ever.
Meatloaf and roasted vegetables… Hey, a real meal! Also served this week: chicken soup, beef soft tacos and pancakes.
And then there was an early morning walk {and breakfast} with Mrs. HB.
Towards the end of our meal she got a phone call from little HB boy saying he was sick and that he wanted to come home. And me, being the horribly realistic and insensitive friend that I am said, “Is he throwing up? Is there blood? Does he have a really high temperature that requires medical attention? Can’t he wait another hour and a half for school to get out so his sister can drive him home {it was a half day}?” Seriously? You want me to drive you over to the school {a 45 minute round trip with good traffic} to pick up your kid?” {Mrs HB didn’t have her licence on her and we took my car downtown to walk, which was still about a mile away}.
Let’s just say Mrs. HB was not amused with my rational thinking skills.
When I was a kid the only way I’d get to go home early was if I had to be carted off via ambulance for passing out {low blood sugar, $1,800 ambulance ride, my parents thought it was ridiculous and were like, why didn’t the nurse just give you some orange juice? You would have perked right up?} or got hit in the mouth with a badminton racket {it was an accident} and the nurse was convinced I required stitches {I didn’t, the Dr. just put one of those butterfly band-aids on my upper lip and my dad took me back to school}.
So the idea of picking a kid up and hour and a half before school let out was just crackers to me! In fact, the only time I can ever remember picking one of my kids up early at school was when I got a call from the nurse saying The Girl had a really bad nose bleed, and that after 30 minutes they couldn’t get it to stop, and that I needed to pick her up and take her to the Doctor’s office. And I was like…. um, it’s a nose bleed. It will stop. She’s fine.
But they insisted I come get her and so I drove to the school to pick her up and what do you know…. as we pulled into the parking lot of the Dr.’s office office {5 minutes later} her nose stopped bleeding.
So ya. I may not have had to walk 5 miles up a hill in the snow to and from school, but c’mon now, can’t he wait 90 minutes? And Mrs. HB was like NO…. We need to go pick him up. So, under a slight {okay, big} protest, I drove her over there {because I do like her, and really, what else did I have going on?} and we picked up little HB Boy.
And then yesterday Mrs. HB sent me a text…
Well then.
Yada yada yada…. I’m sick. And I’m not sure if buying $8.48 worth of ice cream at 6 am counts as a medical expense, but it should.
~Mavis
P.S. When it comes to kids wanting to be picked up at school early, or you more like Mrs. HB or me? We’d love to know.
Total Spent This Week $8.48
Total Spent in January on Groceries $240.15 {Not even funny!}
Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.
Wendy L says
Everett school district removed nurses from elementary schools years ago. My son is a diabetic. I complained to the school board but to no avail. I spent 3 years going to school mid day to give him his insulin. Then the same in private school until he could care for himself.
Jessica says
THIS is ridiculous!!!! My friends who have T1d children in school have had a 1 on 1 their first year of diagnosis and then as they got older and more comfortable they have had the nurse or a shared aide keep track of them! I am so angry for you!!
Tejas Prairie Hen says
Yes, and I have cleaned up vomit from my van, like thousands of times. Why on eath do schools serve lasagna for lunch?!?! 🙁
Paula says
I was an elementary school teacher for 28 years. (1st grade) There is a fine line that teachers and nurses must walk. Particularly, with the state of over protective parents. I always tried to access a child’s request to see the nurse. I would try things like: get a drink of water, put your head down for awhile, take a short nap, etc. I would also do a basic check to see if they were warm. Blood was a given to go to the nurse. You have childen that have health issues. If you don’t send a child to the nurse and they have a medical issue, there are liability concerns. My own personal thought process is the same as yours. Basically, buck up. However, it is not the world that we live in today. A school can only do so much to accododate a child not feeling well. In addition to taking care of occasional needs of the average child, the school nurse must also administer things like prescription medicine, insulin, etc. They are very busy on a day to day basis.
kcb says
Paula, you are correct. I was an elementary teacher for 30+ years. I don’t think most parents realize the liability issues that school teachers, nurses, & the school have to consider. Many teachers have liability coverage either through their teachers’ union or a private company. However with my own child he really had to be sick (fever, blood, or something contagious) before he got to stay home.
Deb says
Our school nurse is nuts (seriously). Anytime she sees one of my grandkids for anything (playground falls, cough, runny nose, anything you can think of) she pulls them from class and sends them home, plus she requires they be seen by a doctor before they can return to school. She once called social services because she disagreed with my grandson’s primary care giver’s diagnosis and treatment recommendations. Schools seem to think they own your kids now. I believe schools are for education, and nothing more.
Heidi P says
My husband should NEVER see this picture of Lucy at the table. We have a 2 year old chocolate lab that if given the option my husband would get him a chair and place mat to join us at every meal drooling and all! Pet love, its an amazing thing.
I’m guilty of both rushing to pick up my kids when they call and telling them to suck it up. On the suck it up occasions I’ve felt like mommy dearest when they actually ended up having something seriously wrong….like a broken bone. Yikes! It’s always a gamble.
Have a great Monday everyone….I’m off to have our teenagers fender bender repaired. Fun times.
Mavis Butterfield says
I truly believe Lucy thinks she is a tiny human stuck in a dog’s body.
debbie in alaska says
I like to imagine all dogs that way 🙂
Tracy says
No, no. Lucy actually IS a human being stuck in a dog’s body. It’s in the eyes.
Mom at home says
I’m the one that would go and pick them up. I say this because they don’t complain or leave easily and if they made the trip to the nurse, then they are sick. I picked up my daughter after passing out at school. Two doctors later, she was okayed and sent back to school. A few months went by and the nurse called because a teacher had taken her to them. She wasn’t able to see her music, vision was coming and going. I had the heart doctor put a monitor on her immediately. In four hours she was in critical condition and flown by jet to a children’s hospital. Heart surgery done and home again! This came out of the blue.
Mavis Butterfield says
Now that is scary! Hope she is doing much better now.
Alison says
My parents were like yours, you went to school and stayed in school unless you were on your deathbed. When my kids were in public school (I homeschool now), I was more like Mrs. HB. One time my first grader got off the bus and immediately started crying (my husband had picked him up). When they got home my husband said, “Is he always like this?” I took one look at him and took him to urgent care. He had a fever of 103.7 and strep throat. I made sure he knew from that day forward that I wanted him home if he felt bad, and that he should have them call me no matter what.
Marcia says
I’ve never picked up my kids from school early. Sometimes we get a call “X is fine, he scraped his knee and we put a band-aid on it”.
I think my kids are just … tough. I mean, we don’t pull our kids out of school for anything really. Some kids have a really low barrier to calling their parents. We both work FT, so ours is pretty high.
So, if I got a call saying my kid was sick and needed to go home, I’d absolutely get them. Because it has never happened.
Jenny says
When mom is a pediatric nurse you go to school unless bleeding profusely, limb hanging off or you are blue! My poor children
Jessica says
My kids know that if I am getting a call from the school… there had better be a real sickness… We don’t have time to play around! It is really hard to get away with anything here.. Dad works from home- if you are here sick, you are on a strict rest schedule! Tylenol is left in the office for headaches or braces pain… they know they can go get it. My kids also RARELY ever fever.. so if the nurse calls and says fever I know the end is near! lol
I work in a preschool….I am usually the first in the office called for a kid not feeling well… fever gets checked and if there is one.. call for pick up- that is a state law. But tummy aches… We head straight to the potty.. try a poop, drink some water, if the kid is congested I pull out the Ritz and treat with some carbs! I have a 90% success rate!
Shari Harniss says
Ritz? What’s that?
Shari Harniss says
You mean the cracker?
Jessica says
YES!!! lol We provide the snack at my preschool so I always have Ritz Crackers on hand.. Sinus drainage on tummies is the absolute worst! I always say that I am prescribing”Carbs” for a snotty tummy.. I always fill the parents in on what happened- achy tummy, spit up- etc.. I have many more years of *parenting experience* than the majority of our parents so they are usually really thrilled to hear these common sense illness tricks.. especially when they are constantly picking up colds and germs at this age!
Brianna says
My 3 year old has the flu and I am half expecting a call from the school for my 2 other school age children. They only have a school nurse 1 day a week, but we live in a rural small town. When we lived in the city in Georgia my kindergarten daughter vomited in the hallway right after she got to school. She had several more bouts of vomiting and I got a call at 1:30 to come and get her. She had been there vomiting 4 hours before I was notified. I was annoyed, but the school nurse was too busy with too many other sick kids was the excuse I got. There was 2500 kids in the school and 1 nurse. My daughter asked me why it took me so long to pick her up, but it took me 5 minutes to come and pick her up. The school dropped the ball, my child was miserable and crying to go home. We ended up in the ER with dehydration and norovirus, the nurse didn’t even give her more than 1 glass of ice water the whole time, which she promptly threw up. Her eyes had no luster in them when I got her, she was pale, shaking, and just aweful looking. I always go right away if I get a call or send someone else to get my child if I cannot. I don’t want my kids to suffer, be embarrassed, feel bad about being sick, have complications the school can’t treat, etc.
debbie in alaska says
I’m like you in this regard — as a kid I never once stayed home from school or went home early. I also have a hearty immune system so there’s that. I rarely got sick — and if I did, it was usually just sniffles and nothing worse. I carried that forward into adulthood and if I get sick it’s still just sniffles. And when that happens I usually just suck it up and rally. At our office though, we tend to encourage people to stay home if they might be contagious. But it’s still hard for me not to roll my eyes when people call in sick because they feel slightly under the weather or have sniffles. I know, I’m mean. So be it. 🙂 That all being said, I’m all for people taking the occasional mental health days. Sometimes you just need to regroup and recharge.
Gina says
Our schools’ staff was always pretty good (teachers and nurses) and the nurse’s office had a certain criteria that had to be met for the student to go home.
Although, back in the day (my daughters are in their 20’s), we used to be restricted to doctor office hours Monday through Friday (no urgent care offices back then) so I always stressed to school staff that if my kid seemed sick on a Friday (and she NEVER complained unless she was “near death”), that I wanted to know. That way I could choose whether or not she needed to be seen before the doctor’s office closed that day. Having a child sick with strep all weekend waiting on the doctor’s office to open on Monday morning was a miserable experience.
But, when my kids were sick they were expected to be in bed all day. That was deterrent enough not to fake being sick.
Pam says
I’m with Heidi about Lucy. We have 2 fur babies and love them like we love our kids. But they are both trained that when they hear plates hit the dining room table, they both leave the room. And they don’t come back in until dinner is over. I learned my lesson with “limits” while eating dinner at a friend’s home. Her cat jumped into my lap and pawed a shrimp off my plate. My friends thought it was “adorable”. All I could think of was that those paws had recently been in a litter box.
Shari Harniss says
Cats are beautiful, but just nasty. Always on the furniture, table, counters with the very same feet that shovel cat litter around all day. Yuck! Plus, that butt looking at you- too much!
Kate says
They’re trainable. Ours aren’t allowed on tables or counters and they know it.
Dogs will eat off your plate too if you don’t train them not to.
Pat says
After reading the headlines that 109 people have died thus far in Washington from the flu I would be at school in a heartbeat. I always picked my children up whenever I was called. Grandchildren also who live 35 miles away. Better safe than sorry.
Marie says
Agreed, many schools no longer have a nurse and it’s usually the lead secretary administering meds, taking temps and applying bandages. All while answering their phones, assisting walkins and completing bus passes. Sick areas are small in elementary schools; sometimes limited to 2 cots. 600+ kids=2 cots, well you do the math. Give the schools a break! If they call-GO! They too are excellent at evaluating situations and they know the “frequent flyers” that always seem to be “sick” when an assessment rolls around in class.
Ellen in Clackamas says
Like a lot of you there was no calling the folks unless there was blood or upchuck involved. I was lucky that I was really healthy during those school years. And if I didn’t feel good I could go to nurses office and lay down for a while. When my kids got to school there was only a nurse 1 day a week and the secretary was the one triaging. She often called for me to get my daughter who had a “fever”. I didn’t consider 99′ a fever–she just wanted to come home. I think it turned her into a hypocondriac and for sure she missed a lot of school. Now she goes to the ER anytime anyone in her family has a splinter/fever/cough. Wish there was sturdier immune systems!
Jennifer says
My kids are incredibly healthy and have always known that if they call me to come pick them up, it better be real. Therefore, when they call, I go. I am in the middle of you and Mrs. HB. I can’t imagine throwing them to the wolves and ignoring them, but at the same time, 90 minutes before school is out? Tough call for both of you.
Michelle says
I will go and pick my kids up anytime because I know that if they are calling, they really don’t feel well. There’s nothing worse than being in school when you are sick. Plus, there’s that time I sent my son to school when he was sick, just because of a Valentine’s party. I’ll never forget picking up my sweet little boy after school and seeing how sick he was. He was too sick to care about the party and had a horrible day. I felt terrible.
Lauralli says
Stay at school/work or go to school/work if you “don’t feel good”. Stay at home or go home if you are “sick”. There is a difference. Lots of people don’t understand this though. Ask any school or employer.
Dawn Kasl says
My child(13y/o son) broke his femur and pelvis after a fall in the driveway. I told him to get up and walk it off. And refused to take him to the hospital for at least 30 minutes because I thought he was being. Baby… so clearly my opinion shouldn’t count in this debate! Lol!!
Susana says
Dawn, you’re not alone. My first born was skating down a neighbor’s driveway when she fell on her arm at 5 y/o. She came in the house crying and told us what had happened. We took her for x-rays and were told there was nothing wrong. This was on a Friday and Halloween was on Monday. I told her she was fine and if she kept complaining she wasn’t going out trick-or-treating. This lasted all Saturday. On Sunday morning I told my hubby let’s take her back to the hospital I think she’s really in pain. When we walked into the admitting area the receptionist said,”Oh Mrs. J. I was just about to call you, the radiologist read the x-ray wrong. Your daughter fractured her arm.” Boy, did I feel like a jerk. Needless to say, with 8 children (4 girls, 4 boys), I learned my lesson about broken bones!
Autumn says
My son fell snowboarding and came home saying his arm hurt if he “did this” (held it straight up in the air) so of course I say “if it hurts when you do that don’t do it”. 3 days later “mom my arm still kind of hurts”. Broken clavicle. I shouldn’t be trusted either.
laura says
homeschool mom here, kids were never picked up because they were already home! and if they were well enough to read (their favorite thing) they were well enough to do their work, while wrapped in blankets and sipping flat 7 up (my mom’s favorite cure!)!!
Suzanne says
I’m more like Mrs. H.B.
Anne says
Not the schools place to card for sick kids:send them home before more germs are spread
Anne says
To care for sick kids(typo error)
Lanie says
I work at my kids’ school…they VERY rarely get to miss or leave school early.
Tammy says
I homeschool my daughter and if she can sit up she can do school. 😉 I was sick last week (still recovering), and she was drinking my water after me, trying to get sick! Why? so she wouldn’t have to do school!!! I told her if she got sick she would still have to do school! Especially since she got sick on purpose. LOL
Carol says
As a former elementary teacher in WA State, I have to come down on the side for picking up your child. The days of the nurses “office” are gone. We had a nurses room with no nurse, as the nurse was shared by all schools and had a different job description than back in the day. Our school secretary had to do her job and keep an ear out for the sick children in the nurses room. Most teachers are careful to assess the situation before referring kids to the nurses room. Yes, liability issues also apply.
Donna says
Hey Mavis!!
Love your recipes, blogs and money saving tips! I have set goals likewise. My question is, when you have a “no shop” week, can it be Wednesday to Wednesday instead of Sunday to Sunday? Sometimes stores run sales before the new week and deals are better then! I don’t want to fudge the results because I feel we only cheat ourselves. Thoughts?
Mavis Butterfield says
I’m confused. Are you asking me to shop Wednesday to Wednesday?