What they can and cannot do when they are sick...

It's amazing, really. My son is at home, sick, for the second day now. Monday afternoon and evening, he literally just sprawled on the couch, not wanting to move for anything. Yesterday morning, he slept in until about 9, and sprawled on the couch until after lunch. After lunch, he played computer games, and gradually worked his way up to playing with Lego™, and making a mess of his room. He went to bed early. When I woke him up early this morning, from the first words he spoke, I knew he would be staying home again today (you can hear how much his throat hurts when he talks).

But, I digress. When my son was very young and I was figuring out how to be a parent, I was always told to not put any artificial restrictions on children when they are sick. Don't force them to stay in bed when they want to play. It's better for them to have as much activity as they wish. When they want to stay in bed, let them, as long as they get up and move around every once in awhile. They will let you know what they need, and what they feel up to.

Now, we have been lucky. My son does not get sick often. He is not the type of kid who will fake sick to get out of school, because he knows that #1, I'll catch him, and #2 school is important. But he also tends to try to take advantage of the situation.

For example, yesterday afternoon he felt well enough to play with Lego™, and play Warcraft, but not well enough to go to the kitchen and get a banana when he was hungry. He did end up getting it himself, when I pointed out the silliness of this, especially when he had just gotten a glass of ice water for himself, without even thinking about it.

But at the same time, I didn't want to leave him alone, in case he suddenly got sicker. I went to the grocery store yesterday afternoon, to get more soup and Dt. Pepsi, and I thought that I might as well take the cans back while I was at it. Bad idea. Took forever, for reasons that would fill another blog post, and by the time I finally finished, I felt like I had been away for hours. I quickly found what we needed (and forgot the flavored oatmeal my son wanted), and rushed home, only to realze that I had been gone a grand total of... wait for it... twenty minutes. Yes, folks, moms are weird.

In any case, his fever is gone, but he is left with a sore throat. Hopefully, with a lot of chicken noodle soup, and Ricola, he'll be feeling much better tonight. Because seriously, I couldn't take another day of this.