So very angry right now!!

joeblack066

Person_one wrote: »

If she's 14 I suspect its very unlikely that she doesn't realise asthma can be fatal. I'm afraid you may well have missed your chance there.

You could well be right, but that doesn't change the fact that I am glad I can talk to her about it before it crops up in a lesson!! I'm sure they know a lot about most things at 14 but that doesn't mean I don't want to be able to talk to her one to one!!

thatgirlsam

joeblack066 wrote: »

What I said in my last post. I have shied away from nothing!!!!!!!!! I would have just appreciated the opportunity to prepare my DD for a lesson that upset her - that way she wouldn't have got upset. And the Head of Science could see my point.

I can understand that - although I would have thought you could have expected her, and therefore prepared her, to learn about conditions such as diabetes in biology lessons?

I hope she isn't too traumatised by the lesson

My dad died of lung cancer when I was 13 - I wasn't traumatised by learning about cancer in lessons after that, I remember thinking - good! why didn't they teach my dad this?? I hope someone learns something from this lesson and it prevents cancer for them and their families

Torry_Quine

I think some people are being very hard on the OP. She is the one dealing with the fall out from a daughter who had every reason to be upset. I would have hoped that this kind of information would be known to the school.

Hope that you are able to give the reassurance she needs just now.

thatgirlsam

Person_one wrote: »

If she's 14 I suspect its very unlikely that she doesn't realise asthma can be fatal. I'm afraid you may well have missed your chance there.

I was going to say this too
If she has access to google then its extremely likely she knows far more about her condition than her mother!

Don't mean that in a bad way joeblack

A person who has a condition or illness is the expert from experience, and from research they do

koalamummy

I have so far read but purposefully avoided responding to this thread due to personal bias. However I now have to say that I totally agree with Thatgirlsam.

As a child there was an aunt that we were close to and regularly visited who was diabetic. Back then things were very different and it was a much harder condition to control. Hers was recorded as brittle which meant that despite her best efforts it was very difficult to manage. We went to visit one week and found her dead as a result of complications from diabetes. She had been dead for almost a week and it still isnt my fondest memory.

I myself was diagnosed diabetic aged 18 months and had at this point probably due to my young age not quite grasped the reality of my condition. I can say though that from that day forward I read everything that I could lay my hands on and took over management in a military like manner. By the time I was 10 I knew completely that the only way that this condition was going to injure or kill me was if I let it. As Mr Shaw said knowledge is indeed power.

milliebear00001

I'd have thought, that rather than than hoping the school will communicate your daughter's background with every member of staff whose lessons might touch on death, disease, fathers and daughters, or any other issue that you feel she might find upsetting, that it would be easier if you asked for a copy of each subject's teaching syllabus and then went back to the school with a list of those areas you might find concerning.

This may not be obvious in all subjects (e.g death or loss might be covered within an English text, but wouldn't be obvious unless you were familiar with the book/poem/play etc) but you would certainly be able to spot issues coming up in science and PSHCE etc, and you would be able to prepare your daughter accordingly.

I would have thought the yearly syllabi would be easy enough to get from the school.

daisiegg

With regards to the asthma thing, I still don't understand why she would need preparing...surely she KNOWS that the condition she has could be fatal if not handled properly?? I have had asthma all my life and knew as a tiny child that I HAD to remember to take my inhaler everywhere because it was very dangerous and I could die of an asthma attack - it wouldn't exactly have come as a shock to me to hear it at 14 in a science lesson! It may not occur to your daughter to be distressed by studying asthma in a biology lesson...until you sit her down and make a big deal out of it.

daisiegg

Sorry, 'make a big deal out of it' was phrased very badly. I meant just, she probably wouldn't find a science lesson about asthma distressing, until you make her think that maybe she should find it distressing, by bringing it up beforehand.

joeblack066

I have really appreciated the information made available to me on this thread. I would however suggest that people read the entire thread before commenting. The observation that I should have known my daughter's biology syllabus inside out has already been mooted, and I have accepted responsibility that I have been obviously seriously remiss in this area. I was unaware that as a parent I need to know the ins and outs of the entire GCSE syllabus that DD is covering. I will however put this right. It has also been said that had DD Dad comitted suicide, and the subject had come up in school, many posters may have been more sympathetic to my reasoning? The end result is, however, the same for DD.
DD has lost Dad, 2 grandparents and her Auntie in 4 years, the most recent being on Boxing Day. But hey, I mustn't be overprotective now must I? Perhaps I should just let her deal with all her stresses by herself, cos hey life can be tough can't it? So she pulls her eyelashes out but what the heck?!! I really should stop being such an old fusspot and let her get on with it. I mean self harm never killed anyone did it???
Now - calmly - as a Mum, I will continue to make sure that DD has all the resources available to me so that she gows up a happy well adjusted young lady, just as her 3 grown up brothers have matured into confident successful young men against all the odds. If that makes me a bad Mum, I'm prepared to take the risk.

thatgirlsam

joeblack066 wrote: »

I have really appreciated the information made available to me on this thread. I would however suggest that people read the entire thread before commenting. The observation that I should have known my daughter's biology syllabus inside out has already been mooted, and I have accepted responsibility that I have been obviously seriously remiss in this area. I was unaware that as a parent I need to know the ins and outs of the entire GCSE syllabus that DD is covering. I will however put this right. It has also been said that had DD Dad comitted suicide, and the subject had come up in school, many posters may have been more sympathetic to my reasoning? The end result is, however, the same for DD.
DD has lost Dad, 2 grandparents and her Auntie in 4 years, the most recent being on Boxing Day. But hey, I mustn't be overprotective now must I? Perhaps I should just let her deal with all her stresses by herself, cos hey life can be tough can't it? So she pulls her eyelashes out but what the heck?!! I really should stop being such an old fusspot and let her get on with it. I mean self harm never killed anyone did it???
Now - calmly - as a Mum, I will continue to make sure that DD has all the resources available to me so that she gows up a happy well adjusted young lady, just as her 3 grown up brothers have matured into confident successful young men against all the odds. If that makes me a bad Mum, I'm prepared to take the risk.

Gosh, not sure why you are being so hostile

No-one has said you need to learn the entire syllabus!

And no-one has said she shouldn't have resources to deal with what has happened

I had counselling (as an adult, mind) which really helped me with some issues I had to do with my dads death