17th August 2009

Earth to parents: Hellloooooo!

posted in Parenting, School |

I have had a cold.  It laid me low Thursday and Friday, and kept me from re-starting my (new) exercise regimen on Saturday and Sunday.  Worst of all, I had this goopy cough, wheezy breath, and found myself getting tired just going up the stairs.

Ew, yuck.  Time to hie myself off to the doctor, I said.  So I hied to the doc-in-a-box.

And at the doctor’s office, I waited.  And waited.  And waited.

While I waited, I saw parent after parent leading a child in–or out–for a shot.

Today, by the way, is the first day of school.

The first day when the new varicella vaccination rules are in place.

The “new” varicella vaccine rules which were communicated to me (a parent) multiple times waaaay back in March.  And April.  And May.  With handouts.  With notes from the school nurse.  In the newsletter.  There was even a special mailing, also from the school nurse.

All of which said:  No varicella vaccine, no school for your kid.  Period.  End of statement.

The nurse who was taking my vitals had to quickly leave the exam room to go help administer a shot to an eight-year-old who was screaming his head off in another exam room.

The doctor told me–when he finally got to me, two hours after I got there–that he was cross-eyed from seeing the kids and getting them their shots.  He estimated he had already seen twenty kids.

Helloooooooo!!!!

Folks!  Get a grip!  You’ve had plenty of notice!  Months of notice!  You’ve had a whole summer in which to get this thing done!  WHY ARE YOU WAITING UNTIL THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL TO TAKE CARE OF IT?!?!?!

Gah.  Twits.

OmegaMom wanders off, muttering darkly to herself and shaking her fist in the air.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 11:52 am and is filed under Parenting, School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 3 responses to “Earth to parents: Hellloooooo!”

  1. 1 On August 17th, 2009, Snick said:

    What’s so bad about Chicken Pox, and why *must* they have the shot?? I don’t get it. What if you’ve already had the Pox?

    Best,
    Snick :)

  2. 2 On August 17th, 2009, GrannyJ said:

    Snick is right — as I recall, you had chicken pox while an infant — in the middle of a hot Chicago summer. I thought, BTW, that the shot for the pox was one of three in a combined regimen.

  3. 3 On August 18th, 2009, lizard said:

    I hate this one. We’re going to get a whole generation of kids to adulthood, not immune to the pox, and they are going to get it as adults, when it makes people really really sick.

    I worked very hard to get my DD the pox this year. She was hardly sick enough for my tastes, frankly, since I had to take her to work with me and wished she’d just sleep on the couch instead of feeling fin but being poxy. I’m glad I live in Oregon where you can do exemptions from the vaccines, too, and still go to school.

    Do they even make kids get the shot if they have had the pox?

    of course, as one of the docs who administers the shots, I can also agree wholeheartedly with your complaint about waiting till the last minute. Geeze, people, get with the program. It’s not like you can’t manage it some damned day over the summer. Poor doc, having to do 20 school-age kids in a day. They are so babyish about it more often than not!

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