The costly price of proof – when a kid fakes it

I’ve been told I’m not the most sympathetic parent (or spouse for that matter) on the block when it comes to listening to my kids say they are sick.  I’ve heard every excuse under the sun when it comes to one of them trying to get out of doing something they’ve been told to do or to get out of going to school.

Most of the time I can tell when there’s an issue at school that may be causing the anxiety and will dig to get to the root of that problem, but when I have a kid that repeatedly tells me they are tired, sick, don’t feel good, achy or have a headache, I tend to go for the costly approach and 1. scare the hell out of them with my armchair diagnosis guesses and 2. march their butts to the doctor for a nice, hopefully painful test that will teach them a lesson.

I have two that have serious allergies and while I know allergies can make you feel very sickly, I know it’s almost impossible to sell schools on the necessity for the kid to stay home with “allergies.”  The third doesn’t have much history of allergies or illness of any kind really – he won the lotto with his teeth and will never require braces – and for the most part, is fairly healthy.

I’m fairly certain what we are seeing is either a slight case of a mono or chronic fatigue or a serious case of jealousy and wanting to be as busy with doctors and dentists as the others.  I’m not exactly sure how you can balance attention between kids when one has chronic issues and the other does not.

Well, to answer the call for attention, he’s just had his day.  I truly hope the blood work comes back with nothing more than a serious case of possum and jealousy or maybe even a case of new school year jitters.

It’s painfully difficult for a parent to be sympathetic with kids who cry wolf.  Aside from scaring them and having them checked out – I’m not sure what else there is to do.

What do you do when you’re kids say they are sick when you know deep down they really aren’t?