I rarely use this space to get all up in arms about something.

Well, maybe that one time, or the other.

Whatever.  It is an unusual occurrence.

While I am well aware that parents live busy lives and juggle a multitude of tasks on a daily basis, a parent’s greatest responsibility is the well being of their child(ren).  Or it should be, right?

Recently for us, our greatest concern has been the cold/flu season.  Our efforts for staying healthy have reached far beyond vigilant hand washing, Purell, and cautiously avoiding sick individuals.  In fact, aside from going to preschool, or to the grocery store once a week (without Babisodes), we pretty much stay home.  Even on the weekends. Not only to avoid illness, but also to avoid spending a bunch of money by going out.

But as diligent as we are as parents, I know there is only so much we can do.  Other factors are completely out of our hands.

Factors similar to when we decide to sit behind the wheel.  As much as we trust our driving skills, and follow the rules of the road, there will always be some fool out there too busy LOL-ing or ROTFL-ing to calculate the distance between their front fender and your rear-end. WTF, right?

Apparently, a similar risk applies when dropping a child off at preschool.

Last week it was my turn to volunteer in my daughter’s preschool classroom for the day.  It was a great opportunity for me to get a glimpse at Babisodes interacting with her friends and teachers. However, while doing so, it was quite apparent that a few children should not have been sent to school that day.  As a nurse, I know that a cough can last for weeks. And children are able to run and play with a lingering cough just fine without it being a risk to themselves or others.

However, if your child can barely stand up or complete a sentence without a glazed look washing over their face, they should STAY HOME.  It doesn’t matter if they don’t have a fever anymore.  They need to rest and recover.

I cannot blame anyone but these kids’ parents.

The preschool day is only 2.5 hours long. Full days do not exist.  Therefore, these parents thought it was more important for their child to wander aimlessly around class like coughing zombies, than to keep them home for a few hours.

Now Babisodes, who had not been anywhere but preschool, has a fever of 104F degrees and is coughing to the point of gagging all day and night.  Not to mention, our pediatrician is not responding to our calls because their staff is fielding over 100 calls a day for patients presenting H1N1 flu symptoms.

Patients like us.  But we will never find out if she actually has H1N1, because we can’t actually speak to the doctor.

Instead, we’re getting call backs from a pediatric nurse who cannot diagnose or dispense anything other than advice I already know.

So to those parents who decided their trip to the grocery store, hair salon, or wherever it was they had to be for a few hours that was so damn important their child had to come to school…

I hope it was worth it.

I will be sure to send you our insanely expensive co-pay and bills if our daughter ends up in the E.R.

Note:  Our preschool sent out a notice last week to keep all sick children home for a full week if they are sick.  Apparently, not everyone got the memo.