My kid got sent home sick for coughing. Ok kid, what are you doing home? You’re healthier than I am but I have a lot more shit to do today than you do. I can already anticipate the phone call from my boss where my son barrels into the office and loudly proclaims that poop is stuck in his bottom, or something equally as savory. The kicker? He hasn’t coughed more than twice since he’s been home. He HAS, however, managed to:

• get out of homework
• break his bed
• conduct a monster truck rally at 90 decibels on the ceiling above my office during a deadline crunch
• make several mysterious crashing noises followed by “I’m okay!”
• get checked out by the doctor, who confirmed he’s not in danger of bringing down the plague on his classroom

When I was a kid, you had to break a bone, have a chronic illness, or lose consciousness to get out of school. I got a call from daycare today saying my youngest son has a goose egg on his forehead from bashing his head into the wall while climbing up a bookshelf. I asked if he needed to come home or see a doctor and they said nah, we put ice on it, he’s fine. Yet my oldest son sniffles and there goes my husband to pick him up.

I asked my son if he asked to be sent home. His response? “No, the nurse asked me if I wanted to go home and I said yes because I am not feeling well.”

What adult asks a five-year-old child “Do you want to go home from school?” I loved school, but given the chance to go home and play I would take it EVERY TIME. My son is not disruptively ill, he is not feverish, he does not require medical care. He is also not a doctor and not a good judge of whether he needs to recuperate at home!

We dutifully sent him to the pediatrician. The doctors said give him something OTC because it’s probably post-nasal drip related to the weather or possibly allergies or a cold. What if I didn’t work from home? How many sick days can a parent take to take care of a child who is only mildly ill?

I guess there has been a change in the school system that encourages them to send home students who have vague symptoms of illness, but there hasn’t been a corresponding change in the workplace that allows employees to take time off to care for these kids with the sniffles. I am all for time off to recuperate, but honestly, my son was sicker two days ago than he is today and if there’s nothing we can do to help him, why is this child home??