More asthma
Wacky Daughter was asthma-attacking at 4 a.m., pobrecita.
I was volunteering in her classroom last week, and one of her buddies couldn’t stop coughing.
Really sweet little girl. The skin was blue beneath her eyes, and she
couldn’t catch her breath. I thought: Asthma. I asked the teacher to
let the parents know that that might be the problem. Teachers love me,
as you can imagine. Ha! Ha! That’s precious, isn’t it?
I know of at least one other kid in their class who has already been
diagnosed. His asthma is triggered by colds and cats, so he can’t come
over to play! Big time allergies. Our two cats would not be his
friends. We can go to their house, though.
Do you think it would be overstepping boundaries to call this little
girl’s mom and tell her that she’s showing some of the same signs as WD
did, and suggest she talk to their doc? I know they smoke around the
kid, but I wouldn’t mention that. Why do people still insist on smoking
around their children??? This one drives me up the wall, and is the
reason why WD can’t go to their house.
My advice to you: Always ask the parents if they smoke and/or have guns
in the house before your kid goes over for a playdate (younger kids) or
party (older kids) or whatever. Even if they’re teens, it’s still OK to
ask! Dang, probably especially if they’re teens. I just say “WD has
asthma, so we don’t want her around anyone who smokes.”
Our nurse told my husband that even if they’re not smoking in the kid’s
presence, new studies are showing that the kid is still exposed to
significant damage from second-hand smoke from the nicotine addicts in
their lives, cuz it stays on the smoker’s clothes, breath, hair, etc.
And there’s always that nice puff of smoke that smokers blow RIGHT in
your face after they come in from their little break. Ah! My personal
favorite. As H pointed out to me the other day, they’re willing to
smoke in whatever elements — blizzard, hail, pouring rain, “…nothing
will stand between me and my coffin nail, dammit.”
, 
.
Very good point about asking if there are guns in the house! I am glad I am not the only parent who does that. And yep, sorry but my kids are not allowed around smoke either.
I don’t know if I would have the cojones to call the little girl’s parents, but I certainly might say something in passing if I saw them at school. Something like, “Oh poor Sunshine. Does she have asthma too?” and if they say no, say, “Oh. That was just exactly how our daughter acted when she was diagnosed with asthma.”
I know how awkward the whole kids’ health subject is. One of the kids that I take to school (carpool) had a URI (upper respitory infection, cough, congestion, hacking up a lung, etc) for a good 2 months and his parents never took him to a doctor. Not only did I feel for the poor kid, I really didn’t want him hacking all over my son and giving it to him. Of course we all caught it. I never said anything to his parents, though I wanted to. Do you think I suck for being a chicken? What should I have said? His mom is a very sweet lady that I value as a friend.
March 24th, 2005 | #