Mom Praised Over Response to Son Who Faked Being Sick To Get Out of School

A mom has been commended online for taking a hardline stance with her teenage son after he faked being ill to get out of a test at school.

According to Attendance Works, which cited a report published in 2018, a national and state initiative promoting better practice around school attendance, over 8 million students miss around a month of school every year in the U.S.

Absenteeism can prove problematic with research quoted by Attendance Works indicating that missing around 10 percent of the school year, or roughly 18 days, can negatively impact academic performance.

While that might seem like a large chunk of the year to miss, it actually equates to just two days for every month of the school year and is technically classed as chronic absenteeism.

Parents need to take an active role in combating chronic absenteeism, which is perhaps why one concerned mother who took to Reddit to share her story found herself inundated with messages of support with the post earning over 10,000 interactions in the process.

The 35-year-old mom of a 13-year-old "A/B student" took to social media for advice after she was criticized by her husband over her response to their son calling in sick. "My son knew he had a test on Friday," she explained. "I told him many times he needed to study but he kept pushing it off saying he already knew the material and would ace it."

Cut to Friday and an hour after he left for school, his mom said she received a call telling her he was sick with a "stomach ache" and needed to come home.

She went to pick him up and, as per school rules, took him to their local doctor for a check-up. His doctor confirmed what she suspected that there was "absolutely nothing" wrong. It became apparent that his supposed illness had been brought on by the thought of the test.

But if her son thought his mom was about to give him an easy ride, he was sadly mistaken. "When we got home, he immediately went to the TV to turn on video games," she said. "I told him if he was sick, he needed to go lay down without electronics."

He apparently "threw a fit" telling her "it was just his stomach and that shouldn't stop his games." His mom refused to bend though, telling him that if he felt better he could "complete his work he brought home" from school.

When lunch rolled around, she decided to make him soup—a standard meal for anyone unwell—but he once again he "threw a fit" demanding "real food" like "takeout." "I told him if his stomach hurt, soup was the best thing for it," she said.

Later, he asked if it would be okay for him to hang out with his friends, but his mom said she "told him no" and reminded him "he was sick." However, when her husband got home later that evening he was "angry" with his wife over her response and felt she should have been more lenient and "let him have a day off."

She told him that while their son is "allowed 1 day off per semester" to help with his "mental health" it could not fall on a "test day" unless he was actually sick and therefore her treatment of him was "punishment" for breaching those rules. Despite explaining herself to her husband, she said he was "still angry" at her for making her son's day "suck." She found more support for her stance online.

Borageandthyme praised her response, writing: "Anything else would have been rewarding his fakery." Fun_Neighborhood1571 agreed, commenting: "Don't reward lying unless you want to raise a liar."

Oliviamrow said: "In my house growing up in the '90s, the rule was: if you stay home sick, you stay in bed, you don't get any TV or computer time until after school hours, and you get soup for lunch."

Fckliberalcommydbags added: "I can't fathom why any parent would think otherwise. Any other stance rewards deceit and is sure to be exploited more and more in the future."

Illustrious_160, meanwhile, felt the boy's father "might need to examine their parenting priorities." FloweredViolin thought the "kid is lucky mom didn't dump his butt back in school."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment.