A Sick Story

Kids are naturally scared and confused when they're sick.  They want to understand why they feel awful.  They want to know why the heck they could play football the day before, and now, they can't possibly move a muscle to get out of bed.  They want to know why they have to take that horrid medicine!

Well, you can't go and tell your child about Influenza, Scarlatina, Flavivinidea Flavivirus... let's see where that takes you!  You have to be a little imaginative when talking to little people with imagination as huge as the universe itself.  So this is what I told my boys one sicky, sucky week.

Kids get fever because that's the way the body naturally fights off some kind of virus or infection.  I whipped out my drawing pad to illustrate (after all, nothing gets a kid to pay utmost attention than arresting visuals accompanying an exciting story).

The cast of characters:

1.  Red Blood Cells -  RBCs are the hippies of the body.  They provide nutrition, oxygen, overall good, happy, kiddie health.  They're, typically, the damsels in distress in this story.

2.  Infection -  The bad dudes.  They can be viral, something from the water, the air, the food.  They're germs and they mess up a kid's body really bad.  All they want is Kid Domination!

3.  White Blood Cells -  Thank goodness for heroes!  WBC also stands for Warrior Blood Cells.  They're brave, strong, and they kick massive viral butt!

With that ... WAR BREAKS OUT!  The WBCs increase in number as they round up more troops to join the fight against infection.  There's a lot of fighting going on inside the body and that's why the body feels weak and awfully beat up.

RBCs are also getting drafted to join the army because the infection is just too damn strong!  (That last part, I just made up --but, you must admit, it's pretty dramatic.)   Now a child won't want all his body's blood to get in the middle of the war, right?  I mean, who will supply the body's healthy bits if all the blood cells are in the field???

THAT is why the child has to help out.  He has to take the secret weapon that will help the WBCs destroy every single germ in his body.  He has to take... Medicine!

And... KABOOM!
The war is won... and health is restored...

Take it from me.  Tell a simple, swashbuckling story that would make your child understand what he's going through when he's sick.  It will make him feel braver and more comfortable.  And motivate him to be more responsible.