When the Teacher Emails

So Olivia missed school on Monday due to a cold and fever.

We sent her to school on Tuesday against my better judgment and all seemed fine.

On Wednesday, I got an email from her teacher at 2:00 letting me know that Olivia was coughing pretty badly and didn’t seem to be feeling well. She did say that the school nurse had taken O’s temp and she (Olivia) didn’t have a fever.

Cue the mommy guilt. Yes, I tend to wallow in it for all sort of reasons, most not even worth mentioning but this time I felt like the teacher was scolding me, wondering why I’d sent an obviously sick child to school.

I replied that we knew Olivia had a cold as she’d missed school on Monday due to that very cold. I went on to explain that she’d looked and acted much better that morning which was why she was in attendance. I asked the teacher if she wanted me to come get Olivia (the email came in with an hour to go at school.)

Her teacher responded telling me that we didn’t need to come get Olivia they just wanted us to be aware of their concerns for O’s health.

Okay.

I’m used to getting emails telling me that O had an accident, or that we need to meet to discuss her IEP or suggestions on how to get Olivia to eat her lunch while at school. But this one felt different, it felt like my parenting decisions were being questioned.

I actually really like O’s teachers this year. We liked her teacher last year just fine but the teachers this year seem to truly care and so I’m trying not to take it personally that they felt the need to email and tell us that basically O was too sick to be at school. She has a cold but I still am not convinced she was too sick to be at school that day.

Sigh.

This parenting thing is so hard. Who thought I was responsible enough to care for two human beings?