Too Sick for School, or Sick of It?

I'm afraid we may be having an outbreak at our house of a common childhood malady that we've somehow been able to duck until now.

No, it's not chicken pox, or even measles. Something that is, in many ways, more worrisome: Allergy to school.

My kids have both been of the sort who would go to school with fevers if they could. They hate to miss days. They argue against staying home. Part of it is because I make staying home very boring, but part of it is that, for all their academic and social struggles, they genuinely like being in school.

So it's disconcerting now to see my son, in his first month of high school, maintaining for no really obvious reason that he doesn't feel good and wants to stay home. He's got a little cold, a little congestion, but he's begged to go to school with far worse. My Mom Sense is tingling with the suspicion that something's wrong at school and this is his way of dealing with it. Of course, that tingling could just be a sinus infection. I've had that bothersome cold too.

I made him go to school on Friday, and his aide said he was fine. Over the weekend, he seemed fine, with no complaints. Monday morning, he's sick and wants to stay home. That's the kind of thing that gets most teenagers branded as lazy troublemakers, but this is so unlike him that I'm worried. Maybe I've just read too many teen novels where the kid is tortured but can't tell his parents, but I can't help thinking something's going on at school that he wants to avoid.

So far, teacher and aide reports for the new school year have all been excellent. I could ask his aide if she knows what's bothering him -- but what if she's what's bothering him? I could ask a teacher, but in high school he doesn't see any one teacher for a majority of the day. I could ask a counselor, but I've found them to be worrisomely indiscreet in the past, and don't want to risk that yet. For now, I've asked the mother of a sharp-eyed and sympathetic friend of his to find out if the girl has noted anything troubling.

And, I'll keep questioning the boy. And his imaginary friend, who usually has pretty loose lips. Things have been going so well so far with high school that I hate to think there's a problem so significant he can't talk about it and just wants to ditch his much-loved school experience. Maybe he really does just feel physically bad. But I have a bad feeling about it.

How are your kids doing so far this school year? Share your experience in the comments.

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