Kristina blogged about Swine Flu, Kerrilyn blogged about Swine Flu, Melinda blogged about Swine Flu, Val blogged about Swine Flu, and so I thought it was my turn.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sow_with_piglet.jpg)Yesterday Oldest Child got home from school and told me all about her day. Well, she really only told me about her teacher telling the kids all about the Swine Flu (and if that is all they learned about yesterday I am going to have a little piggy).
You have to know something about Oldest Child. She is like her mom, poor thing. She is anxiety ridden (and she is only 7). She has already been in therapy twice for her anxiety. I kid you not. Since I suffer from severe anxiety I recognized her issues pretty early and had her in to therapy FAST! And by fast I mean like a month because the waiting list is LONG for child psychologists. Good times!
Anyhow, one of her issues (just like her mom) is sickness. She was aware, being the oldest, about my heart condition through my last pregnancy and she freaked out that Mommy wasn't going to be coming home. I thought we did a good job not letting her know anything but that girl has super-hearing. I secretly think she reads minds, but don't tell her that. She already knows she is special. I don't want to give her an even bigger head.
Back to my original thought- since she was in therapy to help her be calm about sickness and life issues I think that sharing details about Swine flu was NOT the best idea. I think I am going to drop-kick her teacher. (I really do like her teacher, just thinking that I am a little upset because my daughter is freaking out now.)
Here are just some of the fun facts that she shared with me (that I didn't tell her)...
- Don't be alarmed. (who uses that termanology with 2nd graders?)
- Swine flu is really bad.
- You can die from it.
- More than 20 people have died already.
- We need to wash our hands all the time, after we touch a door, before and after we eat, just all the time.
- It's in Texas, which isn't far away, and we don't want it to come to Utah.
Mind you, this is just a few of the fun facts I learned from Oldest Child. WHY was that a good idea? I have talked to her teacher about her "issues" and yet this was a major topic of discussion in her class. Of course, knowing Oldest Child they probably only talked about it for all of 5 minutes and then she obsessed about it the rest of the day.
And by the rest of the day I really do mean the rest of the day. She had piano lessons after school and according to her piano teacher she was having trauma. She cried and had a hard time focusing. When I talked to Oldest Child about what was wrong she started to cry and told me she was scared she was going to get sick with Swine Flu. Nice! It sure was fun trying to convince her that we are going to do everything we can to stay healthy, but that wasn't enough for her. She wanted me to promise she wouldn't get it. Can't really do that, since I am not all powerful and such that I can fix the future to go as I want. If that was the case I am sure that I would be living a different, less money-stressed life.
Theme Song- End of the World by REM. (Thanks Shauna for the song suggestion! Perfect for today's topic.)
