Topsy Turvey World

The cough & cold season has begun.
Even though it's still 20° here most days, the usual colds and viruses have begun to make the rounds at crèche.
No surprise, no different from any other year.

Except that, now, we have "swine flu" to contend with.
Not actual swine flu, you understand - oh no, there have been very few actual cases in France - but rather, the potential of swine flu.
This means that, contrary to previous years, when good old common sense prevailed and if a kid had a cough, well, you gave him some cough medicine and sent him off to crèche to play as usual... now, there is a Protocol.
And the Protocol means that, as soon as your kid shows the slightest sign of being ill, a parent must hot-foot it to the crèche, remove their kid from the premises and take him straight to a doctor. The parent must then pay the doctor 22 euros in order to have him sign a note saying that the kid does not have swine flu (though how the doc can possibly know this just by looking at him is not clear...).
And, here's the best part: the kid is not allowed back to crèche until he has the magical doctor's note saying, basically "the kid has a cough".

Now I am a natural worrier. Therefore, I am not against taking precautions against flu epidemics. But come on. Isn't this all a bit too much?
What happened to common sense?
Wouldn't I know if BB was suffering from swine flu, rather than just running around as normal with a slight cough?

The answer, apparently, is no.
So this morning I have to keep him at home, take him (and his 3-month old baby brother) to the doctor (and probably spend an hour or so in the waiting room, full of sick people and germs...) and hand over some money in order to be told that he has a cough.

Sometimes I wonder how we got into this crazy mess...