I love my children equally. I really do. However, when they tell me they’re sick, I seem to react differently.
If Jack is sick/complaining, I tend to believe him. He’s the go-go-go kid, and not much slows him down. In fact, he’s had a cold almost continuously – with both a sinus infection and an ear infection for good measure – since school started in September, and hasn’t complained much. The exception, of course, would be the screaming about the ear infection, but even then, the ear had been inflamed for days.
Austin, tho. Hm. He tends to be a bit of a hypochondriac. I think it’s the age – he’s aware of all the things that could be wrong, like strep throat (which he’s had, and blames for every sore throat). Therefore he jumps straight to the conclusion that he’s capital-S sick. Today, the school called because he was ill – headache, sore throat, stomach ache, reporting a fever. Unfortunately, some Difficult Clients showed up, and I got stuck helping D2 with them….and I kind of forgot my kid. He called again, and managed to walk to my office instead of the daycare. No fever. No paler than his usual pale self. I didn’t even really believe the headache until he burst into tears when we got home. Oops. Three juvenile Advil later and he was ok enough to play video games quite loudly with the neighbour kid and his brother, so I’m guessing it’s not anything serious.
I don’t know why I do this. Maybe because I expect more from Austin, my first born, my big 10 yr old kid. I tend to treat Jack more like the baby (he’s so very good at acting like one, how can I help it?). Maybe it’s a good thing I’m aware of the discrepancy. Now to keep it in mind.
