To think a 17yo can be left home alone?

[MrsHelsBels74]

My son is only 27 months so I really have no idea. A work colleague was off for 2 days last week as her 17 (maybe 18) year old son was ill with tonsillitis. She only lives about 5-10 minutes from work & works from 9.00 - 2.30. AIBU to think she could have come to work?
As I said, I have no experience of teenagers so am just curious.

It depends how ill he was, but in general I'd say that at that age, they can be ill in bed home alone.

A healthy 17 year old of course. A very sick one with a raging temp, maybe better to stay home (a bit soft maybe, but that's what mum's do).

I agree with aldiwhore, especially as she was close to home if she was needed.

Yanbu really, she could have, and should have come into work.

I do it all the time when DS is under the weather, but raging tonsillitis can involve very high temperatures, disorientation and hallucinations.
So really, I'd say it's your colleague's decision and you should be supportive of that.

It depends on how ill they are?

I had bad tonsillitis a couple of years ago and my parents travelled 2 hours to look after me for a few days whilst my dp was at work, I was 40 I had one of those temps that wouldn't go down and could hardly get up to grab a drink let alone drive my kids to school.

If the mangers had no problem with it then its not a big deal whether he really, really needed he,r or not. I'm sure she had to take it out of her holiday allowance or pay.

I leave my 12yo alone at home if he only has a touch of flu. But tonsillitis can involve the kind of situation - high fever, delirium- where you wouldn't leave an adult unattended either. Depends on how ill he was really.

I had it a few years ago, hallucinations were very strange and I lost a couple of decades. Walked into a wall going to the toilet in a house I'd lived in years ago instead of where I actually was and gave the Dr an address from 18 years ago.
Why does it matter to you OP?
When your little poppet is sick, you'll be looking for understanding and sympathy, not 'Stop being such a wuss about your PFB'

Oh, and I fell down the stairs going for water, then lay at the bottom for a while because I couldn't remember what to do next.

I had tonsilitis when I was taking my first year exams at uni. I was so bad that they thought I had something much more serious. I was really ill for over a week and for the first three days apparently had somebody constantly watching me. Tonsilitis can be quite serious.

DH had tonsillitis a few year ago. You wouldn't believe the sweating (constant changing of sheets) and hallucinations.

Unless you actually saw him, you can't really know.

If he was as ill as I was a few weeks ago then No he should not have been left.

I had bronchitis and laryngitis and was sooooo ill DH had to take the day off work to help me to the loo. I could not get the kids to school on my own and just could not get out of bed.

My oh is in hs 40's and if he was very sick I would stay off to look after him.
I am a cruel and unfeeling meany but if someone is very poorly they need looking after regardless of age.
If they have a cold I would throw a box of lemsip at them and bugger off to work.

I had glandular fever when I was 15 and my mum still went to work. To be honest I moved out of home at 18 so I think it's slightly ott for her to take time off for a grown adult but some mums are more "mothering" than others.

At 17 they're not far off leaving for university. At that stage parents won't have the foggiest idea of what their teenagers are doing every minute of the day and certainly if they're not feeling too well, how they are.

This is the time to be preparing for adult independence. I don't think being there for them all the time is necessarily a good thing.

I wasn't accusing her of being PFB at all, was merely curious. I had my tonsils removed when I was little so obviously have no experience of tonsillitis.

It had an effect on me be because our other colleague was on holiday so there had been no-one in the office all morning so it was carnage when I went in.

She can be a bit of a flake when it comes to being ill, e.g. she'll say she has a migraine & spend all morning on Facebook (I suffer from migraines too & know when I have one there's no way I want to look at anything let alone bloody Facebook!).

I know it's not really my business but as I said I was curious.

'This is the time to be preparing for adult independence. I don't think being there for them all the time is necessarily a good thing.'

Depends how ill he is, surely? That's what the majority of us with older children, including at university are pointing out. It's a matter of judgement for the parent.

'she'll say she has a migraine & spend all morning on Facebook'

Oh, That sort of office.
I'm a primary school teacher, if |I ever took time off for a sick child it was compassionate leave and given very grudgingly. So I only did it in real emergencies.

What do you mean by 'oh that sort of office '

Where you can spend ages on non-work related activities such as facebook. Perhaps she is taking time off to care for her slightly under-the-weather son if that's how she sees her job.
Unless it is part of her paid employment to look at FB?

Some of us were pointing out that tonsillitis can be a very serious infection, so she may be caring for her seriously ill teenager. Then you added extra info about her being flaky and overstating the seriousness of her own illnesses.
Which changes the possibilities somewhat.
Maybe she is slacking at home.

Oh, I thought you being a bit sarky about the fact that we're nosy enough to see if our colleagues are on FB! My bad!

Facebook is blocked at work so she'll call in sick with a migraine then be on FB is what I meant.

Well my 5 year old was hospitalised with severe tonsillitis and dehydration less than 2 weeks ago so I would drop everything for anyone in my house if they had it no matter what age.