Childhood boo-boos, scrapes, tummy aches ... and drama

(Photo by Chance Agrella / FreeRangeStock.com)

"How was your day?" I asked my daughter as she hopped in the car after school.

"Fine," she said, and then suddenly her tone changed, "but I feel sick."

"Sick how?" I asked.

"My head hurts, and I feel like I could throw up," she said, lowering her voice.

She didn't look sick. Her energy level seemed normal and she had no fever.

I prodded her for details. When did she start feeling sick? (Sometime that morning; her teacher sent her to the school nurse.) What did the nurse say? (Not much, but she gave her medicine.) What kind of medicine? (My daughter doesn't know.) What happened after that? (The nurse sent her back to class.) Was that before lunch? (Yes.) Did she eat her lunch? (Yes.) How much did she eat? (Everything on her plate she liked.) So she had an appetite despite feeling like she could throw up? (She didn't feel that way at lunchtime.) What about at snack time? (She didn't feel sick then either.)

This exchange happened Tuesday, but it could occur any time my child is mildly congested, as she has been over the past couple of days. I suspect phlegm has gotten into her tummy, making her feel a little nauseated. I've been there myself.

But with my child, who has a propensity for drama, the little upset tummy can lead to a trip to the nurse's office and a mystery pill (which I think was probably for congestion).

Every cut and scrape she gets is big news for days. "I'm going to show my boo-boo to my cousins when I see them," she'll say after a fall.

And everything needs a Band-Aid. Even that small bruise she got when she hit her shoulder on the slide at recess. "It might start bleeding," she said after I refused to bandage it. "No, it won't," I said.

I know this is just a phase. Sometimes it amuses me, sometimes it frustrates me, but I don't know what to do besides just let it run its course.