Monday, March 16, 2009

The thermometer - best friend and biggest ally


This has been my best friend and biggest ally almost every morning before school this year.

For some reason I have children (one in particular) who never seems to feel well in the morning when they wake up. They struggle to get out of bed, they flop on the floor when I'm trying to encourage them to get dressed all the while they are insisting that they feel sick in the hopes that I will let them stay home from school. "Mom I need the thermometer!" they say.

The rule in our house is that if you don't have a fever or have been throwing up you don't get to stay home from school. (Though I have been known to let children stay home for severe cold symptoms that make any schoolwork next to impossible). Since nobody had colds, nobody has thrown up they know that the thermometer is the only ticket for them to stay home.

Mom might be swayed, mom doesn't know for sure if they are really sick but the thermometer is always right, never lies and is the ultimate judge.

This morning my "best friend" was used 5 times to prove to two children multiple times that they weren't sick enough to stay home from school. It has been accused of being broken, being wrong because it dropped on the floor or giving a wrong reading because they just ate cereal. I had one child make a last ditch effort as we were walking out the door. In the end the thermometer prevailed and everyone is at school.

I got out of the house with only a note to a teacher about a scraped knee. I didn't ask the teacher to excuse them from all physical activity outside (which they wanted me to do) but I did say that my child was complaining about it...and I added the fact that this child insisted I write her a note about it. (You can try and guess which child this was).

So now I'm off to a peaceful, TV free day of laundry. What joy.

4 comments:

Sue Carter said...

Can you believe that I thought you were showing a picture of home pregnancy test ??!! Now, I'm laughing out loud because I"m sooooo slow!!!

Costa Rica Baby! said...

So funny Christine!!!

You might want to get a back'up for when it finally meets it´s fate.

Wendy said...

Hello Christine!
Thank you so much for the comment on my blog about our boy, Elder Gray!! We LOVE hearing from people who take care of him while he is serving...it means more than you know. He loves serving in California and so many members there have been so kind to him (and us).
Well, thanks for keeping him well fed-tell him I said to mind his manners (and that I love him)! :)
Oh, and by the way...the thermometer idea-is GENIUS!!
Take care!
Loves!!

Heather Anderson said...

So funny... we have the same rules about school at our house and our old one did break so I had to get a new one at Coastco this week just in case...hmmm great minds think alike")