Argh - it happened again!
I have a single mom who drops off her son at my house in the early morning, as he goes to the same school and gets along with my kids okay. He amuses himself playing with my son's collection of legos while mine are being pried out of their beds and groomed, fed, etc. Normally this is not a problem, but today she shows up, drops him off and he's coughing and hacking all over the place. "Oh, he's all right" she says, "He only threw up once yesterday." I look at her and raise my brows.
"He sounds pretty bad."
"He was fine, I'm sure he just needs a drink of water."
"Has he had breakfast?" (sometimes she doesn't feed him)
"Oh, he didn't want anything."
"Look, I'm just a little worried here. My daughter catches *anything* respiratory and it takes her forever to get over it!"
"Hey," she says to her son, "Don't sit near them." - then off she goes!
So I'm left with this obviously sick child that my own are now eyeing warily. I send him to the other room, give him a box of tissue and remind him to wash his hands before he plays with anything... what else can I do? I offer him breakfast. He doesn't want any.
We drove the big wagon to school, with him in the "wayback" pop-up seat. I'm doling out vitamin Cs and hoping we escape it. I know she doesn't have any fallback - she has to go to work and probably used up all her sick time long ago. But still - argh! Nearly every time my kids got really sick last year, it was because this polite little germ-carrier came through. Sometimes I wonder if being helpful is all its cut out to be, and muttering to myself about how rotten society is to single moms sometimes. They should get twice as much sick time, as they have to use it for two people, not one. mutter mutter.
Okay - end rant... I'm off to wash legos.
I have a single mom who drops off her son at my house in the early morning, as he goes to the same school and gets along with my kids okay. He amuses himself playing with my son's collection of legos while mine are being pried out of their beds and groomed, fed, etc. Normally this is not a problem, but today she shows up, drops him off and he's coughing and hacking all over the place. "Oh, he's all right" she says, "He only threw up once yesterday." I look at her and raise my brows.
"He sounds pretty bad."
"He was fine, I'm sure he just needs a drink of water."
"Has he had breakfast?" (sometimes she doesn't feed him)
"Oh, he didn't want anything."
"Look, I'm just a little worried here. My daughter catches *anything* respiratory and it takes her forever to get over it!"
"Hey," she says to her son, "Don't sit near them." - then off she goes!
So I'm left with this obviously sick child that my own are now eyeing warily. I send him to the other room, give him a box of tissue and remind him to wash his hands before he plays with anything... what else can I do? I offer him breakfast. He doesn't want any.
We drove the big wagon to school, with him in the "wayback" pop-up seat. I'm doling out vitamin Cs and hoping we escape it. I know she doesn't have any fallback - she has to go to work and probably used up all her sick time long ago. But still - argh! Nearly every time my kids got really sick last year, it was because this polite little germ-carrier came through. Sometimes I wonder if being helpful is all its cut out to be, and muttering to myself about how rotten society is to single moms sometimes. They should get twice as much sick time, as they have to use it for two people, not one. mutter mutter.
Okay - end rant... I'm off to wash legos.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-23 06:38 pm (UTC)(((Prim)))
There must be something up with some of the LJ's. I'm not seeing this post nor boriel's recent post in my Friends list. Guess I'll have to do a tour of everyone's journals to see if they have updated and it's not showing.