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.