Just as we were about to leave the house this morning, my son announced that his foot was sore; indeed he was rolling on the floor, apparently unable to walk. After a day at home yesterday, I really wanted to get to work this morning, but if he had somehow injured his foot I would have to stay at home. Getting an appointment to-day to see the doctor at our local surgery would be difficult, to say the least. After losing it for a few moments (mainly because every course of action I could think of would be criticised by somebody), I decided to take him to Accident and Emergency at the children's hospital in Edinburgh.
As we pulled out of the town (on the outskirts of Edinburgh) where we live, he announced that his foot was feeling better. Relieved, I turned around, and was able to get him to school on time.
On this occasion, a satisfactory resolution was achieved, but it is sad that I find myself balancing the requirements of my job against the welfare of my son.
On a more positive note - when I had a minute to myself, I prayed to God for help - that prayer was answered.
4 comments:
Don't sweat it. You know inside that if your son was really ill you would automatically make the right decision. What probably happened is that subconsciously you came to the (ultimately correct) conclusion that he was faking it and why should what you legitimately have to do be disrupted by that. Its good for children to learn that work is not some sort of optional club we go to.
To be honest, I don't believe that he was faking it. He has a problem with loose joints; for example, last night he was woken twice by painful feet. Yesterday morning I had to consider the possibility that the situation was worse - possibly dislocation.
Sorry, no offence, it just seemed from your description that it got better unfeasibly quickly.
Hope all is well now.
Tricky one, isn't it. The old way was to send your kids to school unless they were obviously dying, or at least really ill, but personally, I'd rather give mine the benefit of the doubt, but then I didn't use to work and now they are old enough to be left alone. School is quite stressful these days and the odd day at home to recover even if they aren't seriously ill could help in the long run.
Intermittent ailments are even harder to gauge. I take it the doctor is aware of the loose joints, Chas, and has given general advice. I think I vaguely remember you taking son along about that a year or so ago - or was it earlier this year?
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