September 16: Playing Possum

Yesterday, my son is sick and misses school. Today, my daughter's school calls and she's....well, she allegedly had a stomach ache. Let me emphasize the word "allegedly". Here's how the whole thing went down. I'm sitting at my dentist's office and my cell phone rings. Of course, first thing I'm concerned with is how rude it is for a patient's cell phone to ring during his appointment. So, I glance at the number, silence the ringer and let it go to voice mail. However, something about the number is familiar. So, they take my X-rays, and, as they're finishing up, I realize the number is the kids' school. Of course, I'm thinking my son isn't feeling well and I have to go get him. Thus, I apologize and excuse myself to return a call to the school. The school tells me that my daughter came down to the office complaining she had a stomach ache. They say she's returned to class and if it's serious she will probably come back down to the office. Not exactly the most comforting statement to share with a parent. Thus, I leave my appointment and go to the school to pick her up. I walk into the school office and the minute my daughter and I catch each other's eyes, I can see that her "stomach ache" was simply a fable, if you will. Still, I knew there was something triggering her desire to go home, so that concerned me and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. As such, I decided to take her home...only 2 hours were left in school, anyway. And, it turns out she was just bored and wanted to come home because her brother got to stay home the day before because he was sick. How can you punish a kid for that? We talked about it, and I think she understands that she can't pull that kind of trickery again. At least I hope she does. Funniest part is it reminded me of my childhood when I used to put my head by the heater for about 10 minutes then call my Mom in my room and tell her I didn't feel good. They say everything you did as a kid comes back to haunt you when you have kids of your own. I guess there really is some truth to that.