PARENTS say the darndest things

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I just had a dad say to me after I informed him that his kid has missed 18 days of school so far:

"Well, he is so far ahead of all the other kids in his class, what's the big deal"? ?

Meanwhile this kid is a total space cadet, definitely has issues with processing...

What fun things have parents said to you lately?

Specializes in pediatrics, School LVN.
2 hours ago, Amethya said:

I hate when parents do this, treat like their kids are a bother instead of a blessing.

Exactly!!!!

Before I started working for the school I would feel horrible if it took me longer than 10 minutes to pick up my kids when the school called. I would tell my husband they must think I am a terrible mom it took me so long to get there. I now realize I was probably one of the fastest.

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Specializes in Cardiology, School Nursing, General.
15 minutes ago, Glitternurse said:

Exactly!!!!

Before I started working for the school I would feel horrible if it took me longer than 10 minutes to pick up my kids when the school called. I would tell my husband they must think I am a terrible mom it took me so long to get there. I now realize I was probably one of the fastest.

At least if you let me know you're going to be late or actually tell me you're coming, I don't think you are a terrible parent. It just means you have responsibilities that need some attention but you do care about your kids!

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Specializes in pediatrics, School LVN.
2 hours ago, Amethya said:

At least if you let me know you're going to be late or actually tell me you're coming, I don't think you are a terrible parent. It just means you have responsibilities that need some attention but you do care about your kids!

Don't get me wrong, I do understand that and I am fine if the parents tell me what's going on, it's the ones that say ok I'll be right there and I don't see them for 2 hours that I get frustrated with.

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Specializes in Cardiology, School Nursing, General.
1 hour ago, Glitternurse said:

Don't get me wrong, I do understand that and I am fine if the parents tell me what's going on, it's the ones that say ok I'll be right there and I don't see them for 2 hours that I get frustrated with.

I agree 100%. It's sad especially when I have a little one in my office with a high fever and it's been hours since I called mom and she doesn't answer and I can't send them to class. So they are stuck in my office for the whole day and mom comes in at the end of the day with a "oh... I'm sorry but I forgot!"

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44 minutes ago, Amethya said:

I agree 100%. It's sad especially when I have a little one in my office with a high fever and it's been hours since I called mom and she doesn't answer and I can't send them to class. So they are stuck in my office for the whole day and mom comes in at the end of the day with a "oh... I'm sorry but I forgot!"

Wow! I can't imagine a whole day! I usually call back after an hour of no-show but man do I hate arguing with the parents. YES you have to pick your child up. NO I can't just give them Tylenol & send them back to class.

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I had a teacher mom freaking out last week because she had to find coverage for her class and it took 45 minutes to get here. She called twice to give me updates. Both times, I told her it was fine and that I completely understood if it had taken even longer.

It was refreshing and rare because sometimes teachers that are in the same district think I should be a free babysitter................

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Specializes in Cardiology, School Nursing, General.
16 hours ago, BiscuitRN said:

Wow! I can't imagine a whole day! I usually call back after an hour of no-show but man do I hate arguing with the parents. YES you have to pick your child up. NO I can't just give them Tylenol & send them back to class.

Oh yeah, and I try calling all numbers but NO one answers and I try again later. Poor kid was in my office so sick, and I couldn't give him anything. All I can do is make him comfortable. I made it extremely clear to his mother that she needs to keep him home until it goes away. She did listen to that, thankfully.

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Specializes in School Nurse.

ADD medicine capsule found in Kinder's pocket. Called mom. "Oh, I was sending that home with him for Grandma to give it to him after school." The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

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Specializes in School Nursing.
On 2/7/2019 at 2:43 PM, Blue_Moon said:

I had a parent furious with me because her son scraped his hand on the fence but didn't come and tell me about it or tell any teachers he got hurt. So she throws his hand in my face and says LOOK. It was literally a tiny superficial scratch that he said didn't even bleed. Ok well aside from the fact it's minor, exactly how exactly am I supposed to be able to help him if I don't know again??? ?

Psychic powers or your crystal ball..... I get the same thing....I got chewed out because a kid fell down the stairs and hurt her leg, why didn't I call Mom... Well, I have to know about the injury in order to call????? The kid never came to the clinic because the bell had rung and she was afraid she would miss her bus..

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

Parent #1 (who is pretty angry with school over varied and sundry reasons) sent kid who vomited in clinic yesterday back to school today stating that the student is just tired and he's faking it and he's missed too much school. I belted that up to admin after documenting her declining to pick student up per district illness policy.

Parent #2 of two boys who get ADHD medication at school because they were inconsistently being dosed at home shows up TWO HOURS LATE, signs kids in and leaves. Kids immediately present for medication. I called her and requested that she come back in and administer medication herself. And I know I'm in an extension of the home environment but Jiminey Crickets... there's a medication order that's timed.

OK vent over.

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Specializes in School Nurse.
On 2/13/2019 at 8:46 AM, Amethya said:

Oh yeah, and I try calling all numbers but NO one answers and I try again later. Poor kid was in my office so sick, and I couldn't give him anything. All I can do is make him comfortable. I made it extremely clear to his mother that she needs to keep him home until it goes away. She did listen to that, thankfully.

Get updated phone numbers!

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Specializes in NCSN.

I got lots of love for the crunchy moms out there, but sometimes the ones on the all or nothing end of the spectrum hurt me.

Parent: I just can't bear the idea of giving my child something from big pharma. They just don't do enough testing on those things

Proceeds to talk to me about their EOs, Special diets and sleep wake schedules that have NEVER been tested.

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