Monday, May 11, 2009

SWINE FLU??? How the media creeps into my child's brain...

Monday is always fun for blogging because something ALWAYS happens at church...ALWAYS. Yesterday was no different.

I help with the Children's Worship portion of our Sunday school. This would be called Song Service in some of my extended family's churches...but it is basically the time that we all sing together...clap...do hand motions...learn great songs...and all around have fun and get in the mood for the lessons that will follow.

Now our little "band" consists of Mr. B doing guitar and vocals, Me doing a few vocals and crowd management and a various smattering of kids...we have one that plays guitar, one that plays drums and several others that sing. Now this "band" has been through a lot of changes this year...and one of the things that is starting to be an accomplished goal, is that they are STARTING to sing together and actually sound pretty good. We still couldn't lift Mr. B out...but I can NOT be mic'd MOST of the service because the kids are starting to carry it...YEAH.

The kids are starting to be pretty good friends and that's good because Mr. B and I are constantly talking and improving the songs and telling them to shhhh...or talk quietly among themselves...Well during our last few minutes of clean up yesterday...you know coiling cords, finding mics that traveled, putting away percussion etc. I hear Bean and the young man who is our second guitar player chatting (we'll call him Rocker). She says with wide eyes and straight face, "My sister has SWINE FLU."

I spun around...

To his credit, Rocker did not fly across the room in horror...but OH did his brows go up..."Really???!!!"

I said quickly, "She does NOT." Bean said, "Yes, she does...she was coughing all night". I assured all bystanders that indeed Bear had been coughing in the night (for about 1/2 an hour)...but that she was just fine or would be shortly...

MOVE ALONG THEN, NOTHING TO SEE HERE...

I was mystified..."WHA??? Swine flu?" So we talked a bit. Apparently our trip to Scottish Rite the other day was very informative to Bean. See they had all these signs up that were talking about covering your cough and washing your hands and really making a big deal. So we talked, in general at the time, about how they were just reminding everybody about how to be extra careful because there was a pretty bad flu going around. I don't think I ever mentioned swine flu...but even if I did, most of the conversation was about ways our family already tries to stay healthy...you know eating right, washing hands, taking our vitamins etc. But all the signs really stuck in her head.

Now, I didn't know it at the time, but we also visited with some friends who definately watch the news and are in medical circles, and Bean got even more information from the kids...SWINE FLU is terrible...it's all arooouuuuunnnnndddd....you could have it tooooooooo...etc.

So when her sister woke her up with her coughing...Bean just simply assumed the worst. Now no matter how I asked the question, she hadn't discovered the information on how dangerous the swine flu is supposed to be (I didn't want to put words in her mouth, just figure out what she'd been told)...and that is probably best because Bean is nothing if not protective of her little sisters. I did enlighten her on the symptoms and circumstances of swine flu...and we both agreed that other than a slight cough, Bear didn't display any of those symptoms.

So to all of you who may now believe that the leader of your children's song service has a child with swine flu...rest assured...Bear is just fine this morning. We spent the day yesterday putting vitamin C in her mouth and vicks on the bottoms of her feet and saline rinse up her nose...and she slept all night and hasn't coughed since. She has no fever. She has no stuffy nose. She does have bright, smilin eyes this morning.

Poor Bean has had to learn a couple of little lessons. First, don't believe everything that you hear...if you hear something that frightens you (or anything really), verify it, question the source and by all means gather MORE information...don't just take it at face value. She is also learning that not everything that comes to her head should come out of her mouth. But then again, who doesn't need THAT lesson once in a while.

So that was fun. After all was said and done Bubba and I had a pretty good laugh.

Ain't kids grand???

See ya around....

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