That's Just Sick

Thank the Gummi Mary, there were no kids at school today! Oh, there were students. I'm talking about real kids. Offspring of faculty. Because somehow this year, it became OK to bring your children to school. Not in an educational way, like Bring Your Daughter To Work Day. Laws, NO! I mean like the kid is too sick to go to his school or the daycare, so you bring him to our school. Am I the only one who sees something wrong, here?

I can understand if it is an emergency. Like if the kid gets sick at school, and you have to wait for someone to come get her and take her home. I've done that once. My kid was there for all of 10 minutes from when the nurse called me until my mom could get to school to take him to her house. What I'm b*tchin' about are a teacher's personal kids at school for the entire freakin' day. Yeah. You read that right. All the live-long day! Do their symptoms magically disappear when they cross our threshold? Do their bacteria and viruses become dormant? I am not getting it. Perhaps there is a bigger picture that I can't see.

Don't think I'm complaining about only one person. It has happened with several. I'm sure it goes on in our other buildings, and in other districts. It's all part of the world's big handbasket ride. We have sick days, people. Don't tell me that in the 7 or more years you've all been working here, you have used up every one of your 70 sick days. And even if you have, there's a little thing called 'docking a day's pay'. It's not like you're going to be fired for staying home with your sick kid. But the way YOU must see it is that you're not going to be fired for bringing your sick kid to work. I appreciate the dedication, and saving the school substitute pay. But how effective can you be at your job with your sick child in tow. I know that I would be useless. I would be a mere babysitter. For my kid and my students.

Is it really good for that little kid to be around the big kids? I don't want mine anywhere near these malcontents. They will corrupt the young'uns. And should the big kids be exposed to the sicknesses of the younger set? What if the youngsters haven't had the chicken pox shot, or all their immunizations? One of our pregnant high schoolers could be endangering her fetus! I, myself, do not like being exposed to whatever creeping crud that is carried by the small fry. You know how kids are. They sneeze and cough and put their fingers up their nose and down their pants and, well, I just don't like them sitting three feet from me at the lunch table. They are too sick to go to school. ANY school.

You can bet that if I had to have my kid at my school for any length of time during the regular school day, he would be sitting in the hall right across from my door while I was teaching my classes. That way, he doesn't distract my students, they can't corrupt him or make a pet of him, and his germs are somewhat segregated. I would definitely keep him in my room during lunch. That means I would eat in there with him, not abandon him so I could join my lunch mates. Then back to the hall he would go. Between classes, he would stand right next to me in the hall. That way, I could keep him out of mischief.

I suppose I'm just a grinchy old curmudgeon, a child-hater, trying to break up the family unit. I drag myself to work on days that I am sick, and spread my germs that I am recycling for my class. But I draw the line at inflicting my personal children on my students. Again, I don't mean to pick on any one person. It's the whole scenario that bothers me.

I'm going to push for a national Stay Home With Your Sick Child Day.