School, sickness, work... Arrggghh

TBagpuss

PS - just to add - you may have a contractual entitlement to more 'family friendly' leave, in which case read the policy carefully and speak to someone in HR if your manager is not following the policy. However, i would expect such a policy to include provisions about reasonableness etc

maman

mrsHall2b wrote: »

I was always sent to school, and generally if left to it at school you forget about it and feel better! i do the same with sassy at nursery now, unless she has physically been sick shes going to nursery!
and if she had pretended to have been sick i would be turning right around taking her back and telling them she hadn't actually been sick! yes maybe its harsh, but as you get older and start working you cant have the day off for a headache..

Absolutely!!

I do think encouraging resilience is important.

I know of a number of parents who send children to school after recovering from illness or complaining of something with no evidence and tell them: If you feel ill then tell school to phone me and I'll come and fetch you. Surprise, surprise they start to feel ill on cue.

It's not easy to get it right all the time but I think working parents have a duty to an employer to not just take time off for childhood ailments. I think OP is very fortunate in that some of this is allowed at her workplace. IMO, it's all very well posters saying they'd always put their children first. That's fine but they need to realise they are putting their job in jeopardy. Serious illness/hospitalisation is one thing but basic childhood ailments need a contingency plan.

j.e.j.

springdreams wrote: »

All well and fine, but children also need to learn about crying wolf.

The OPs DD was not ill, and it would seem that is not the first time she claimed to be when she was not. By letting her continue to do this what lesson is she learning??

She needs to understand that there are consequences for both her and her mom if the OP has to leave work for a child who simply does not want to be at school.

If the girl simply wants her mum's attention (or doesn't like being at school) that's another matter, but I got the impression she was genuinely not feeling well. School is a pretty rushed and stressful environment to be in at the best of times let alone when you're not feeling 100%.

j.e.j.

alias*alibi wrote: »

I nearly asked DH to return her to school today but we decided after speaking to the headteacher that other chikdren had had similar illness this week we would keep her off til tomorrow. Hopefully the head will make her see that it's really important for mum and dad to go to work to keep us living the life we are etc and for her not to miss too much schooling.

Depends what you mean by that. Yes you have to pay the mortgage/rent, etc, but if you are working to afford extras like holidays abroad and so on, ask your daughter (out of interest) what would she prefer: a mum who's there for her or the nice holiday/nice car etc