Ditching School

Have you ever received one of those letter from your child's school, the ones that look something like this?

     Dear Mrs. George,

     Your child, ________________, has missed ___ days of school this year. If she misses one more day, we'll see you in court. BOOYA!

     Sincerely,
     The Administration

For the three years Bethany and Connor went to their old school, I got these letters regularly. The purpose seems to be to put enough fear in parents that they send their kids to school at any cost. At the same time they make sure to let you know that your child had better be fever free for 24 hours before you even think about sending him back to school. So which is it, they want sick kids at school, or they don't? The funny thing is that I'm pretty sure one of the main reasons my kids were sick so often was because all of the other parents were also fearful of getting one of these letters, so the end result was a whole lot of sick kids in school on a daily basis.

The implication of the letter also seems to be: We know you're using said child in either A) An underground child labor ring, or B) As an underage top secret liason in your drug selling endeavors during school hours. Or else that you, as the parent, are too drunk, stoned or otherwise irresponsible every morning to care whether your child goes to school. Basically I felt like a really horrible mother and got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I opened one of those letters.


This is the third year at the new school, and I haven't received one of these letters yet. I'm not sure if that's because my kids haven't missed as much school or just because this school district has a different way of doing things. Like not threatening parents with truancy trials because their kids stay home when they're sick. 

But I'm so afraid to get a letter that my kids have to be pretty darn sick to miss school. Like puking, or with a raging fever. A cough and runny nose are not getting you a free pass, guys. In fact, my kids have had coughs on and off for weeks. Sore throats, tummy aches, headaches, you're going to school. Every day I'm stymied: is the teacher hating me because my kid is coughing in class? On the other hand, they might have coughs until May, and there's not a whole lot I can do about that. I'm telling my kids to drink more water, have a cough drop, and rest after school. Because what if I keep my kid home just because of the sniffles or whatever, and then a couple months down the road, she comes down with something more serious that really requires a few days off of school? It's a daily dilemma around here this time of year. 


It used to be that I believed it was my right and privilege as a parent to keep my kids home as I saw fit. Now I'm afraid to keep my kids home because I want to avoid court thankyouverymuch. I had to go to court one time. There was a warrant out for my arrest because of a snow emergency parking ticket. (You can stop laughing now.) I found out about the warrant when I went into the court building to pay the parking ticket, so no I was NOT arrested. The experience of being under a judge's scrutiny is not one I'd like to re-live anytime soon, or ever. I've heard horror stories of truancy officers following kids to school everyday, and parents losing their kids because of just one more tardy or absence. If I weren't afraid of those stupid letters and the threat of court along with them, my kids would definitely be ditching school a lot more often.