My son has glue ear - the consequence of which means that constant ear infections occur resulting in time of school...today was one such day! I am sirry but I need to let of steam - if you are not in the mood to hear my rambling rants then please stop reading now!
On Monday I kept my son off school due to ear ache and leaky ears, he had also been up during the night, you would think as a mother I should be entitled to decide whether to keep my child at home but its not that simple in this day and age due to that lovely little thing called 'targets'. Unfortunatly my sons school has a below average attendance figure (this is overall and therefor includes the whole school) and they have decided that to address this they will contact all parents whose child is not at school - fair enough it would seem reasonable that they need to know why someone is not at school. However the phonecall made me feel so guilty that I hadmade that decission that I sent him back to school on Tuesday with a request that if he was unwell during the day they contact me....
On the way home from school Tuesday I discover that my son had beeen sat with a sick bucket and a glass of water and had eaten no lunch, though no one thought there was any need to contact me!? We arrive home and he slept from 4.30pm until the early hours of this morning, enough said - something was not right as any mother of a 5 year old boy will tell you!
Again I contacted the school to inform them that we would be visiting the doctors today and therefor not in school to which I recieved a surprised reply - 'but he has only just returned to school' - errr yes but I no longer feel confident that you will contact me if he takes a turn for the worst and so therefor I will keep him at home until he is 100%.
It amazes me that they are capable of making me feel so guilty when there are parents whose children dont attend school for a myriad of trivial reasons - its raining, the parents have a hangover, they dont want to go today etc etc....I understand the school have targets to reach but why are they not concentrating on persistent offenders who have lots of days here and there and instead on people like us who have to take time off usually in week blocks due to the nature of the problem??? Simple - I am a soft target who remains polite on the phone (even though I am screaming inside), and takes on board what they say along with the feelings of guilt.
Anyway the good news is there is no sign of infection, ear canals are just a little red and or appointment with ENT is being bought forward...Until then we continue as we are. Back to school tomorrow? We will see...
2008-04-02 @ 20:32