Isabelle's attempts to get out of school...

Last week Isabelle had a touch of a cough for a couple of nights (but not during the day). On Thursday night it was a little bit worse (enough to wake me up once) so when she came to me Friday morning saying she didn't feel well and could she stay home from school, I said yes (honestly, if I had been more awake I would have made her get ready for school just in case she felt well enough by the time the bus came, but I was somewhat out of it at the time). Unfortunately, by the time I realized she wasn't coughing anymore the bus had already come and gone. In the meantime, she kept running around and playing and in general being a pain in the rear and I remembered why I hate snow days. So I told her if she was sick, then she had to sit on the couch and read books or go to her room and stay in bed. "Can't I watch TV?" "No." "How about play computer games?" "No." After much complaining and fussing, she finally said, "well if I can't watch TV or play on the computer, then I guess I'll to school." Arg!!!! I felt like screaming. Luckily, a friend was dropping by for a few minutes and she graciously watched my other kids while I ran Isabelle over to the school.

So imagine my chagrin when this morning she comes into my room saying, "So Mom, if I stay home can I practice writing sentences on the computer?" "No" "How about if I study at the counter?" "No. Isabelle, you aren't sick. You're not staying home." "But I'll sit on the couch or stay in my room Mom!" "Isabelle, I thought you liked school. Why don't you want to go?" "Because I don't like waiting for the bus after school. We have to stay in line and we can't even play. It's soooo boring Mom. Why can't you pick me up after school like my friend's Mom does? The bus is boring too Mom. I don't like riding the bus anymore." Um, yeah. She is the last stop before school and the first stop after school. She is on the bus all of two minutes. I tried to explain about how I had to take the city bus from school and wait a half hour for it to come. And then it was a 20 minute bus ride, followed by a 20 minute walk up a hill to our house. It didn't work. I suppose invalidating her concerns wasn't the way to go about it, but I definately think we need to work on entitlement issues with Isabelle. Honestly, I'm glad that she likes her family and home enough that she wants to be with us, but how do you teach a kid that boredom is just part of life sometimes?