The best age to drug your children

“I slept super well because of the magic pills, Daddy.”

My 4-year has just come back from her first time away with school.

18 kids, together for two days in a farmhouse, and that’s the first thing she tells me.

So I call my wife and say:

“Ahm, Alice is saying all the kids were given some type of pill by the teachers before bed. Do you know anything about this?”

“How would I?? It’s the first I heard of it!”

“They wouldn’t really give them sleep medication, right? I mean, I totally get why, can you imagine putting that many kids to bed…”

“Francisco!”

“Just kidding, jeez… Leave it with me, I’ll investigate.”

I was joking but I’m starting to panic a little. We really like this school, Alice really likes it, and it was a nightmare to get her in.

I can’t begin to imagine having to move her in the middle of the school year…

So I speak to other parents, who have heard the same thing and are a little freaked out too.

That goes on for a while longer, until one mom comes to the rescue:

“Relax, all of you. My oldest boy went through that last year. The teachers have a whole story about elves and faeries when they go on these trips, and they give kids some candy and say they’re magic sleep pills. That’s all.”

Crisis averted, I call my wife and give her the news, and she’s super relieved.

I’m relieved too, but also a little disappointed: the idea of magic sleep pills for children sounded pretty damn good to me 😅

It only takes one story

My daughter’s school has won educational awards, all the staff are great, and she loves it there–but one wild story was enough to have us questioning everything we knew. One story started by the teachers themselves. 

If that mom hadn’t come through, would we have believed that same explanation from the school later on? Probably–but maybe not.

The stories people tell about you are powerful - and they won’t always be told the right way. It only takes one story to ruin a reputation, so tell your own stories first, and make sure they are so clear they can never be misunderstood.

…But there’s this as well 

I’ve shared this before on social media, and one person said the school was teaching kids a terrible lesson by suggesting they should be taking pills. I thought she was reading it the worst possible way (and that she was an exception).

But this year, a couple of parents actually complained about the “magic pills”: they thought it was outrageous and made such a fuss about it that the school is considering not taking the younger kids to those trips anymore.

If you think your story might trigger people, you need to decide if that’s worth it or not. Can you tweak or remove the (potentially) offending details or language? Can you tackle the objection right after the story? If you can, that might be a good idea.

And if you can’t… is the story that good? Something to consider, because once the story gets out…

…There’s no magic pill to take it back 🤘

-Francisco 

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