School Stress

This morning my youngest got up and came into my bed to snuggle under the duvet for a few extra minutes. He was happy and chatting until he realised that this is a school day and we hear what feels like an inevitable wail of "I've got tummy ache so I can't go to school today."  As he has three older brothers I have become quite immune to the moaning of my children.  We have had a lot of reasons over the years of why they are are far too ill to go school, however we do not normally have days and days of this.  It was compounded today as one of my older boys was genuinely ill and having packed him off yesterday even I realised there was no way he could go this morning.

I do not mean to sound cruel and callous but I believe that unless certain criteria are met the children have to go to school.  If they have a temperature the evening before or when they get up, if they have a rash of any description and if they have been sick (my worst nightmare) they can stay at home.  As my youngest thankfully presented with none of the above it was school as normal.

However, I have become aware of how often my boy is complaining and whilst he is very articulate he is still only six so the doubts start that perhaps the hypochondria is in fact masking a problem that he is not telling me about, cue worry as to what this might be.

Thankfully I am able to rule out any issues with friends as he runs off to play every day, and his biggest concern in the playground is to try and keep in trousers in tact for longer than a month without getting holes in the knees from sliding tackles.  I still don't understand why they are such an essential part of football, but am told regularly how they help when they are defending and what a small price it is to pay for his glory in the game.

Having ruled out friendship issues and knowing he is eating as he has a packed lunch, the next possibility is school work. After a lot of talking it came to light that he is bored in certain subjects, and although I was pleased we had found a problem it raises as many questions as it answers.  Is he bored because the work is too easy or too difficult?  Is it that he doesn't like the topic and needs to understand he just has to get on with it?  Perhaps he is partnered with someone he doesn't like? This is when it is hard to know, especially as a child's perception is not necessarily the reality of a situation and a talk to the teacher is the best gauge of what is happening.

Luckily my son has an excellent teacher this year who really knows all the children and is receptive when there is a concern.  Carpet time is when work is explained to children or things are discussed and it seems that this is the time my son gets bored.  He is not disruptive or naughty but the teacher told me she can see by his face he isn't happy.  I know that he will talk to her as he isn't shy so hopefully this can be sorted out and tomorrow morning although there will be other stresses I am hoping tummy ache will not be one of them!