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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want to punch this school receptionist!

52 replies

tjacksonpfc · 25/11/2008 12:04

i have a dd and a ds at the same school. my ds had recently been diagnosed with asthma and teh last 2 nights i have been up with him coughing and weezing to the extent he is making himself sick. so i left him in bed this morning he is only 3 and phoned the school at 9 am like we are asked to, to tell them neither dcs would be in as ds is really ill with his asthma and going to see dr today and i wasnt willing to take him out in the cold for a bus journey of 1 hr each way like he is.

her response was ill put a note up on the board but there really isnt any reason that your dd cant come to school today. now aibu to want to punch her for this comment doesnt she reallise for ffs that asthma can be life threatening.

sorry for rant but had to get it off of my chest

OP posts:
smugmarried · 25/11/2008 12:07

I'm a bit confused, why is it your dd couldn't go to school?

Tommy · 25/11/2008 12:08

was it because you can't take your DD to school?

I know it's very tricky but that is not a valid reason for not making sure your child attends school

MadameCastafiore · 25/11/2008 12:08

Why isn't your DD at school is she poorly too?

MadameCastafiore · 25/11/2008 12:09

If not are you going to let your sons illness disrupt her education too?

mumblechum · 25/11/2008 12:10

I think I've missed something here. Why can't your daughter go to school?

kitbit · 25/11/2008 12:10

Even if it was logistically difficult to get your dd to school still a pretty extreme and unpleasant reaction on your part, imo.

Mercy · 25/11/2008 12:10

I assume school is an hour's bus journey.

Do you have any friends or neighbours who could take dd if this happens again?

nickytwotimes · 25/11/2008 12:10

I can understand you being cross at being spoken to in an unpleasant manner, btu your dd should be at school if she is well.

MarlaSinger · 25/11/2008 12:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Romy7 · 25/11/2008 12:11

ha ha ha. can't see it standing up in an argument with the lea. my ds was poorly so my dd couldn't go to school. rofl.

asthma isn't life threatening for your dd is it?

yabu, and i'm not sorry. the joy of having more than one. hey ho, only another 10 years or so to go. are you intending on giving the well child a day off every time the other one gets something?

Englebert · 25/11/2008 12:11

A 3yr-old at school? Is it a nursery attached to the school?

I can see why the journey would be difficult but you can't reasonably keep both children off school each time only one is ill.

stillstanding · 25/11/2008 12:12

I was all ready to punch her lights out but I'm afraid she is right: there really isn't any reason why DD shouldnt be at school. Your logistical difficulties with getting DD to school with poorly DS are understandable but you should try to resolve somehow and if not possible you will have to put up with comments like the receptionist's.

nickytwotimes · 25/11/2008 12:13

That's rude, Romy.

SoupDragon · 25/11/2008 12:16

YABVU. She has done nothing to warrant you wanting to punch her.

She is right, your DD should be at school.

stealthsquiggle · 25/11/2008 12:17

I can understand that her reaction upset you, especially if you had been up all night with DS, and she probably could have been more sympathetic about it.

On the other hand, she is right - and perhaps this is a good cue for you to look to set up an alternative arrangement (friend/neighbour?) so that you have some means of getting one or other child to school if the other one is ill.

chopchopbusybusy · 25/11/2008 12:21

I'm going to buck the trend here and say that if the bus journey is an hour to school I can understand completely why you are unwilling to make the journey. Of course it's not ideal to make your DD miss school because her brother is ill, but I am assuming there was no one who could take your DD - and I personally would be unwilling to leave a very sick child with someone else while I did the school run.

Are your DCs at the nearest school to you?

QuintessentialShadow · 25/11/2008 12:22

YABU. Some anger management could be in order. We dont go around and wish to punch people just because we dont like what they say.

I take offence to such violence in headings. It is not normal.

VinegarTits · 25/11/2008 12:22

So you are saying that you have a bus journey of i hr each way to take your dc to school, and you cant take your dd because it would mean taking ds with you and he is too ill?

Blimey thats a fair distance to travel to school, why are they not in one nearer to your home?

VinegarTits · 25/11/2008 12:25

fwiw yanbu and i agree with chopchop

Original poster
tjacksonpfc · 25/11/2008 12:25

we have only lived where we are now a few weeks due to reasons i dont want to go into and its not through choice that we are living this far away from my dcs school. we have to leave the house at 7:30am to get to school on time today it is frezzing cold here with a heavy frost.

in an ideal world i would have people that i no living close by that i could ask to take dd to school but that just isnt an option. so teh only option i have is to drag both dcs with me something i wasnt willing to do as i feel ds health is more important than a 4yr old missing 1 morning of school. i am having driving lessons at mo to make my life easier but not a quick fix. its not just this that makes me really annoyed with the receptionsit but other things aswell that have happened in the past. what really nnoyed me is that i phoned up like we are told to do and get a response liek that making me feel guilty for putting my ds health first. when numerous parents dont even bother phoning when there dcs are of sick i can understand why now.

its not as if im not known at the school as i also help out there doing different things and its the 1st day off either of my dcs have had from school. and yes the nursery is attatched to the school

OP posts:
Romy7 · 25/11/2008 12:29

yes sorry - unnecessary to be rude about the athma, but it would never have occurred to me to keep the other two off school for the whole time dd2 was in hospital. it wasn't their life in danger. you work round it.

DaisyMooSteiner · 25/11/2008 12:30

If she's only 4 then she doesn't have to be in full-time education yet anyway...

YANBU for being upset, but I think wanting to punch someone is a leeetle bit OTT.

I phoned school this morning to let them know that dd wouldn't be wearing her glasses today as one pair had got broken (at school!) last week and she'd managed to lose the other pair over the weekend. Receptionist's response - "hasn't she got a spare set?" Oh yes, because I'd really have gone to the bother of phoning school rather than giving her a spare pair

Romy7 · 25/11/2008 12:30

x posts - just seen you are looking at work -rounds.

Original poster
tjacksonpfc · 25/11/2008 12:33

it just gets through to me how the receptionists live in there little bubble of perfect world and cant see beyond it. ok maybe punch was a bit strong worded how about a gentle poke then to say. life isnt always easy and perfect and when someone is having problems having a dig at them isnt helpful its almost as if school and doctor reseptionists go to a special school to learn to be awkward. not all of them of course some are lovely

OP posts:
smugmarried · 25/11/2008 12:37

PMSL at Daisy.

To the OP - You weren't actually rude to the receptionist were you? You just came on here and had a little rant about it instead.

Use this as an opportunity to think about what you can do to get one to school when the other one's ill. It'll happen many more times I promise.

And so what if the other parents don't ring in when kids are sick, you're not "other parents", you're you.

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