Laying it on the line, parent style

[drwex]

One of the challenges in parenting L is that we cannot trust his self-reports of conditions such as hurting, upset stomach, etc. He doesn't reports his condition, but rather says whatever he thinks will get him the attention he wants.

We're in the car this weekend en route to a party. Pygment is checking to make sure that K has taken his antihistamine.

L: I need an antihistamine too
Me: You haven't been sneezing or sniffling. I don't think you need one.
L: Well, but my throat hurts
Me: If your throat hurts then it's probably the case that you're sick and we shouldn't take you to a party. So if your throat hurts I need to turn the car around and take you back home. Now, does your throat hurt?
L (in a very small, quiet voice): A little.

(L continued to insist that he, too, has allergies, which led Pygment and me to explain in fairly clear detail just what's involved in allergy testing in terms of needles. I also had to explain "white to move and mate in three" which is how I describe the back-scratch version of allergy testing.)

Comments

[c1.livejournal.com]

Including medical tapes? I don't know what they'd do in that situation. I know that some people can't have tape, so Kling bandages are the solution when a circumferential bandage is an option. Perhaps they limit the testing site to the arms, but that would require multiple visits-- my back was *covered* with these tapes, as were my upper arms. (They avoided lower arms for reasons of functionality WRT activities of daily living.)

[tigira.livejournal.com]

Yeah, even supposedly hypoallergenic tapes. Hah. The material of the tape may be hypoallergenic, but the adhesive sure isn't.

I've had to convince medical personnel on numerous occasions that the protection tape can provide is not enough for the weeks it will take for my skin to calm down. (Now, to be fair, there are also times that it makes sense to suck it up and have the whatever bandaged, but that's not as often as some would think.)