Sick Kids: How To Tell If They're Faking It

The morning begins, and you slowly pull yourself out of bed, getting ready for a day at the office, when you hear the familiar refrain, "Mommy, Daddy, I don't feel good."

And soon, you will have to evaluate, how sick is she? Is he really sick, or just trying to get out of school? And why don't schools teach them that the proper grammar is to say that they don't "feel well" anymore?

There may be no way to know if your child is really sick -- even after seeing a doctor -- but pediatricians have several suggestions to help you make the right call on taking your child in to the doctor, keeping them home or sending them in to school for the day.

Keep reading...

Comments

[AtomiClash]

09:27 AM on 10/06/2008

I faked many an illness when I was a child. But it wasn't an attempt to play hooky, it was a reaction to anxiety caused by another student's sexual harassment (I was only 7! What did I know?!), etc. If a child seems to be faking it a lot, and is an otherwise astute student, it may be a case of bullying or a situation similar to mine. Look for an underlying cause, you'd hate to miss something really big if you just think your kid is playing hooky.

[rjhuntington]

05:57 AM on 10/06/2008

When my kid was in middle school and high school, I solved this problem by informing him he could have one day off from school per month with no questions asked. It worked like a charm. He took one day off, all right, but only that one day. He'd wait for the perfect day to be off, in his estimation. His absenteeism was reduced to one day per month, lower than it had been before, and he never faked an illness after that policy was put in place. I shared that with other parents at the time and those who tried it reported similar success.

[Theda]

03:06 AM on 10/05/2008

I re-watched "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" recently for the first time in 15 years. I thought it was a funny movie back then. But now, I see how selfish and narcisscistic Ferris actually is....especially when he bullies and manipulates his friends and sister to do things for him that they don't want to do.
I was married to a guy like Ferris, so I no longer think that behavior from a man is cute!