Cat scratch fever

When is it that your kids stop believing everything you tell them? I remember when my kids were little I could tell them anything and they would take it as fact. Now that they are older I am starting to realize that they don't always believe everything I say.

For instance, today the cat scratched Haley. Now granted I am a huge germaphobe and I do sometimes (rarely) overreact. But the cat is an outdoor cat and is known to quite frequently find his meals flying around or climbing up trees. Need I go into more detail? Anyway, I won't even touch the nasty cat but that's my problem. So when she came into the house and told me that the cat scratched her I told her to go upstairs and clean it with hydrogen peroxide until it stopped foaming. She rolled her eyes and turned around and walked out of the room. I called her back and said "Seriously you could get cat scratch fever". She busted out laughing like it was some joke. I continued telling her I was serious as she walked out the room shaking her head and calling to her brother.

At this point Holden comes into the room and asks if I am serious about the cat scratch fever. So I explain to him what happens and he looks at me and says "Google it". To me, he says that. Like I am making this up. So to prove that there is such a thing as cat scratch fever, I have to Google it.

After I looked it up on the Internet and read to them what could happen, they didn't seem very impressed or anxious or scared or even like they cared the least little bit. Where am I failing these children, I wonder. The least they could have done was acted like the were glad I was concerned for their health and well being.

When my husband came home, the kids both rushed over to him and told him what I had said about cat scratch fever and he looked up at me laughing and said "Seriously?". I get no respect, I tell you.