Teachable Moments.

We had quite the night with M on Sunday.

Just about every night before bed she has had some sort of issue, question or concern whether it is an ache or pain or a question on the meaning of life. You know, normal delay tactics.

But Sunday, was a low point. Miss M "thought" she was sick. All. Night. Long.

Her throat hurt. Her head hurt. Her finger even hurt at one point.

At 4am, after getting maybe 4 hours of sleep, J decided he was going to work early.

"Why bother going back to sleep now?"

Finally, M fell asleep, without any current ailments. Except I still had to get up to get T out the door.

When M woke up at 7:30am and waltzed into the kitchen as if there was nothing wrong, I was in major disbelief.

"How's your throat?" I asked.

"It feels good when I eat, but otherwise it still hurts."

Along with her head and other various body parts.

We'd already discussed in the middle of the night that M would be staying home and we'd be making a trip to the doctor. She'd also have to miss out on an after school birthday party and her evening gymnastics class.

She didn't care. At the time, at least.

We went to the doctor, where she checked out 100% healthy. "Not even a cold." The doctor said.

But, it was time for her chicken pox booster and it's flu shot season. So the trip at least was worthwhile.

When we got home, M wanted to play on the computer. Or outside. Or with H.

Nope. Nope. And nope.

"What can I do?" She whined.

"You can rest or you can read. In your bedroom. That's what we do when we stay home from school."

That lasted a little bit and she came upstairs.

"I'm bored."

"I'm sorry to hear that. You're also home from school."

This went on for much of the afternoon. Needless to say, I was not high on Miss M's list of favorite people on Monday.

By the time J got home, M was ready to jump out of her skin.

"How are you feeling?" He asked when he got home.

"Much, much better." She told him, before she started complaining about the shot I made her get.

By the time bedtime rolled around, she was out like a light in moments and bounced up the stairs for school the next morning.

Monday was a teachable moment in M's life. While it was definitely not fun to have a sleepless night around here, it was something she had to learn. The hard way.

Yeah I could have brought M to school after the doctor checked her out and said she was fine. But then all she would have only learned that it's ok to stay up all night, keep everyone else up all night, sleep in the next day and go to school late. And it's definitely not ok.

It was a teachable moment. When you're home "sick" you miss out. It's boring. You rest. She needed to be bored and miss out a little bit, and while it was sad to not let her go to a birthday party or to gymnastics, I think the lesson was well received.

Unless you're really sick, you don't want to stay home from school.

Miss M. Hamming it up, as usual. Summer 2008.