Please tell me I am not alone on this!! I'm ready to pound my head on the desk!!
So I seem to have two kinds of parents that I deal with. One is the kind of parent that is overbearing, over paranoid, wants to be called for every cut, bump, runny nose, fart, etc. The next parent is the lackadaisical kind, easily annoyed, forgetful parents. And it seems that a lot of those second kind of parents are nurses themselves or are in the medical field!!
I had a kindergarten student all last week bring medication to me after lunch saying that he was supposed to take his allergy med after lunch. He had very swollen, watery, red eyes. I spoke with mom who is also a nurse (dad is a nurse too) stating that he cannot have medication in his backpack, we need a doctor's order, etc, etc. She argued with me about it. I said it is the exact same as her giving a medication to a patient without an order. She was clearly annoyed by this. But how is this my fault?! I sent home a letter with instructions about needing the med order and to supply the medication because we don't stock meds. at my school. I made a copy for the principal so she is aware and I sent home two copies of the med form that is also on the school website. The student still came in that entire week with the medication and no order form!!! Here is the best part, today he came in with the medication form but no medicine!!
And here is an example of the overbearing parent. Yesterday, third grader was hit in the head with a ball on a field trip. I was not on the trip but upon arriving back to the school, the teacher sent him to me to check out his face. He had swelling near his eye. Notified mom who was alerted already by text from a parent on the trip (which drives me nuts when parents do that!) and she says to me, should I get him an x-ray. The kid was fine, alert, oriented, recalled what happened, no c/o nausea, dizziness, etc. This is also the same parent who told me to not hesitate to call 911 if his temperature went to 101 when I called to tell her one day his temp was 100.
Who is ready for summer break?!?! I definitely am!!
The worst are the parents who THINK they are the caring parents, but are truly not. It's all for show. To me, that is the most tragic for the child.
I try to remember that these are someone's children, and they may not react the way I do. My plan for my kids was, unless he is crawling through fire and vomit, go back to class. I would expect to be called for stuff like fractures, etc. and head injuries, of course.
My kids didn't go to The Nurse. My Kid comes here now when he wants money!
I'm fortunate to have pretty great parents, for the most part. Sure there's some I want to throat punch every now & then...and there's some that I'm sure I've irritated on occasion. I've not (yet) had one chew me out. I really don't know what I would do. I need to work on my diplomacy, because my first instinct would probably be to tell the person off.
I hate when there are split custody arrangements & parents are telling the kid different things. One says they can't come to me unless they're dying. The other says they'll come get the kid if they sneeze. I can't keep track of whose "day" it is.
And you shouldn't have to keep up with it!! A couple of years ago, I had to babysit a student's medication that she takes at home when mom and dad were shuffling her back and forth. Mom would drop her and med off in morning and dad would pick her an med up in the afternoon. It was all so they would not have to see or speak to each other.
I would be embarrassed for my kid's school to know some of the things I know about these families.
And you shouldn't have to keep up with it!! A couple of years ago, I had to babysit a student's medication that she takes at home when mom and dad were shuffling her back and forth. Mom would drop her and med off in morning and dad would pick her an med up in the afternoon. It was all so they would not have to see or speak to each other.
I would be embarrassed for my kid's school to know some of the things I know about these families.
I have a few that I need to do that for too.
I always have problems when the little one is sick and the parent who's day it is, isn't answering or returning my calls. So after a decent amount of time, I call the other parent and it ALWAYS turns into a mess. Either parent B doesn't want to pick up the child because it isn't their day OR they do and I get chewed out by parent A the next day because I should have just waited to hear back from them.
Sorry that little bobby joe was throwing up everywhere and I didn't want to keep him in my office for the three hours it took for you to call me back.
I got yelled at last week for calling a parent to pick up her child who had the gall to run a fever 45 min before school was out. I was majorly putting her out expecting her to come and get him when school was letting out in less than an hour and not making him suck it up and ride the bus home. Poor kid.
Then there's the other who I must call if her child graces my presence to make sure I've thoroughly checked her out and that she's well enough to make it through the rest of the day with that paper cut.
Specializes in Cardiology, School Nursing, General.
I sometimes even have the same parent with the different attitudes. This mother was always laid back and never had an issue with me. But just once LD came to me about something, she wasn't feeling well, checked temp when I did my initial check up, all normal. It was the end of the day, student still complained, came in right at dimissal, check temp, no fever.
I asked her who's picking you up? She said mom and she's already here. I said go tell your mom when you get in the car, you came to see me right now and you have no fever, but not feeling well and I been trying to contact you since this morning, but no answer. (I tried calling each time too, no answer).
She came back a few minutes later saying she just took her to the doctor and she has a fever! That's I am irresponsible and blah blah blah, how can I not catch this? (Lady, you never answered the phone?!)
So I told her then next time LD comes in my office, I'll make sure you call you each time and apologized. Happy with the response, she left all huffy.
Here comes the funny part, the kids love me here, especially her daughter, so she visits me EACH DAY since incident, for everything. So guess what I did? Call her for everything, and mother got tired of it, asked me to please stop calling. "But ma'am, you asked me to call you each time your daughter comes in my office and I am, if you would like me to stop, please talk to your daughter about visiting me for NON-EMERGENCY things. It would make your and my job easier." Since then, LD only comes to visit when it's actually necessary.
Of course, I always call for things, CYA people. That's what I learned from this exchange.
Specializes in Cardiology, School Nursing, General.
Ugh. I'm sure someone saw that incident, did they think to follow-up/though on it besides just sending the student to you without any background?
Or course, that is rhetorical, because I have been sent students like that more than a few times. The second I hear "someone hit me or I hit someone else" or any variation, I make that kid sit and not leave until I can loop in our Dean of Students. But if they don't share. Ugh.
This is why I go snooping around for more info about issue. I ask the kid various to times and eventually he'll spill and the teacher will tell me and all I have to do is then call the dean of students , tell her of issue, write incident report and then call parents with just the medical part of issue. That it.
Farawyn
12,646 Posts
The worst?
The worst are the parents who THINK they are the caring parents, but are truly not. It's all for show. To me, that is the most tragic for the child.
I try to remember that these are someone's children, and they may not react the way I do. My plan for my kids was, unless he is crawling through fire and vomit, go back to class. I would expect to be called for stuff like fractures, etc. and head injuries, of course.
My kids didn't go to The Nurse. My Kid comes here now when he wants money!