Sickness Has Fallen Upon Us

In the past few weeks two of my four little ones have fallen ill. We have dealt with vomiting and fevers, hives, and sore throats. When a child gets sick in our house, they are kept in bed as much as possible. They get to rest, watch movies, read books, draw pictures, and play. I don't push school work of any kind on a sick child. As they feel up to it, they can join back into the family activities.

I remember when the kids were in public school and we were told that they couldn't come to school until they had gone 24 hours without a fever over 100 degrees. This meant that when they got sick they missed the day they were sick, sometimes two, and then another day to get to that 24 hour mark. Meredith got sick a lot when she was in public school, at least once a month. It wasn't long before the truancy people from the school were calling me. They wanted a doctor's note every time my daughter stayed home. I do not take my kids to the doctor very much. I can tell the difference between a bacterial and viral infection and I know when to take them to the doctor and when to treat symptoms at home. I was following the school's guidelines and getting in trouble for it. Other parents ignored the guidelines, dropped their kids off at school, and went to work. Then they got upset when they had to leave work to pick up a child who was throwing up in the classroom. These are the same parents that couldn't figure out why my daughter was sick so much.

Since taking the kids out of public school we have been relatively healthy. My kids still get sick, as do I, but not nearly as often. My kids usually get a cold in the spring and one in the fall. They might get a virus once a year. That has been about it. They have never had pink eye or strep throat. Head lice is not even a concern here.

When we get sick we listen to our bodies. They tell us when something isn't right and we respect ourselves enough to take time to rest and get better. There is nobody telling us how many days we have to get better or that we have to keep doing busy work so that we won't forget how to write or read. Learning continues. It just changes forms. Learning is something that we do every day of our lives, not 180 day a year between August and June. We don't struggle to get our school days in. We don't worry about sick days. We learn a lot about health and our bodies when we are sick. Other things can wait until we feel better.