Skipping School and Growing Up

So TRC had some issues with going to school today. It was my night shift at the library last night, so I was asleep when it started, and eventually it escalated to the point where Denisa came to get back up from me. Here’s how the conversation played out:

Me: So, you’re sick, huh?
TRC: Yeah.
Me: How sick?
TRC: Well, I coughed four times, and I’ve already used five tissues.
Me: Do you think you need to go to the doctor’s?
TRC: No!
Me: Oh. Do you have a fever?
TRC: No.
Me: Are you throwing up?
TRC: No.
Denisa: If we were going to go to the movies, would you go?
TRC: No. (pause, thinking) Well, yes.
Me: I don’t think you’re sick enough to stay home.
TRC: But I stayed home from Kindergarten when I was this sick.
Me: Kindergarten doesn’t count.
TRC: I wish I were still in Kindergarten.
Me: Why don’t you want to go to school?
TRC: Well, I’ll get there, and I have to work on my journal and then do more work, and we only have one recess now, and . . .
Me: It’s not as much fun, huh.
TRC: Yeah. Why would I need to go to the doctor’s?
Me: Because you have to go to school, and if you don’t go to school, they like to know why.
TRC: Oh.

After some further discussion, it was decided he was well enough to go to school, and he and I would play a game tonight when we both came home. The discussion got me thinking, mainly about how I still feel like TRC some of the time. Don’t we all? Going to work can be difficult. The poor guy is just getting his first taste for what will be a life long issue.

Let’s all have a moment of silence for TRC.