Working The System

I've noticed a pattern. It took me awhile to figure it out, but I finally did. Every time my husband is out of town, my daughter says she's sick and needs to stay home from school, which is what she said this morning.

Statistically speaking it's very improbable that she gets sick every time I'm single parenting and not at other times. What's more probable (and very likely) is that she knows I'm more of a push-over when it comes to letting her stay home from school.

My husband is a hard-core, school attendance kind of guy. I bet he won the award for No Missed School Days as a kid. Even though he probably had the flu and a dozen colds, he went to school every day. I agree, that going to school is extremely important, but I'm not quite as stringent. My husband says, "You can only stay home from school if you are fevered, vomiting or bleeding from the ears." Since my daughter was doing none of the above, I made her go to school today.

Kids are savvy. They seem to be born knowing the strategy, "If one parent says no, go ask the other one." By the time they reach middle-school, kids are absolute PROS at "working-the-system" at home. Our only defense is to think ahead, be prepared, and form a United Front with the other decision-making adults in the house. If I hadn't done this, my daughter would be home watching TV right now instead of sitting in Geometry class. Poor her.