Pandora

There is only one thing worse than opening Pandora's box. That is opening her underwear closet instead.

Last thursday, a routine mission to pick up the little one from school turned eventful. There were TV crews outside the school and a dude thrust a mic in front of my face and said "Sir, what is your reaction to what is happening here?" and my response was "What IS happening here? I don't know" and walked in to the classroom.

The teacher tells me that the school is closed by the County because there is a probable case of swine flu in the school. Apparently some sick kid attended school on Mon/Tues and did not show up for school Wed/thursday and the school was going to close till May 11th!

Most of the parents were frustrated more than concerned by the school closure. They were all just hoping that their kids (who looked fine) would stay symptomless for another couple of days and then things were fine. Some parents told me that chances were, if our kid was infected she would be showing some symptoms already!

The little one jumped on me and kissed me all over my face. She gave it the extra saliva for the special occasion. That meant, if anyone was going to be quarantined with her, it would be me.

So we showered with extra care, waddled in germ killing lotions and stayed put indoors for hte most part over the weekend. No symptoms from anyone. That meant the family was safe but there was still no school.

Finally last night they figured out that if they request sick kids be kept at home, they can open the school. Now we are all back to our regular routine.

The headlines today?

"The responsibility is now on the parents who have to make sure they keep their kids at home for at least 7 days if the kid has a fever of 100 or above"

The responsibility was ALWAYS on the parents, irrespective of school being open or closed. It puts an even greater burden on more parents if the school is closed!

The little one is finally happy. To have a three year old ask you if "we are all going to die because of swine flu?" is very very difficult to handle.

Shouldn't kids be spared the panic?



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