Sending Sick Child to School

If you kept them home for every sniffle they'd never leave the house.
You tend to review the school rules and follow them - fever over 101, throwing up, diarrhea, or blistering pox - they stay home - otherwise they go.

I have always sent my son to daycare, preschool and now elementary school if he had a cold. It's where he picked it up so it's already there. I cannot just take off from work for a cold.

I go mostly by behavior. If my kid is acting fine, totally energetic, and has no fever, he goes (preschool/daycare in his case). If he is not acting like himself, I keep him home even if there is no fever (obviously, fever=home).

If I kept him home for every runny nose or cough when he was a toddler, he would barely have gone to school. Instead, I drilled from an early age with how to wipe your own nose with a tissue, and how to cover your cough with your elbow and do a lot of hand washing.

If it were my kid, and they were feeling fine, I'd send them as long as no fever were present. My kids would be home every day in the spring if a sore throat and cough was the issue. Pollen is no friend of ours.

i think parents rely too much on the fever guideline. some of us just don't run fevers.
i thin it's fine to send a kid to school with a cold. but a sore throat is a definite 'no' for me. i'd keep her home if that's still there tomorrow.
khairete
S.

I'd keep her home.
She won't "get behind" in preschool!

Just because she doesn't have a fever doesn't mean she feels well. She's only 2. If she feels yucky, let her stay home. If you think she is contagious, keep her home (not all kids with strep have a fever). If she's hacking up a lung, I would give the evil eye. Put yourself it the shoes of the other parents.

When in doubt, ask the school.

Best,
F. B.

As the parent of an asthmatic child, please keep her home.

situations like these drive me crazy as my kid would catch someone else's sort of sick and would be out for a week and change because it would aggravate his asthma.

Hope she feels better

I don't send my kids to school with any fever at all because they spike, so I'd rather keep an eye on them and keep them medicated. The school knows to call me if they have slight fevers too, because 99% of the time it means my kids are fighting something like strep or the start of bronchitis or stomach bug or something.

If they have a cold they go, unless they are really drained. A cough? They go unless it's preventing them from focusing. Really, I used my knowledge as their mom and how they look/act. If they seem fine and don't have a fever they go. If they are slow, lethargic, really coughing, etc they stay home.

Fortunately my kids like school and don't want to miss...so I know if they ask to stay home they need the rest.

Please keep her home. Think about the reason for the "evil eye" from parents and teachers.

Most likely the reason she is sick is that someone else sent their sick kid to school. I worked for years in two community center with a preschool and kindergarten program, and I taught for 6 years in private schools. Here's the most common scenario when kids who are sick (or fairly sick) come to school: They cough on the toys, the snacks, the other kids and the staff. (Kids under 12 aren't very good at coughing "into the elbow" so at best they cough into their hands, which they don't wash.) Teachers spend more time wiping running noses than running the class. The kid that seemed "okay" at 8:30 is out of gas by 10 AM and either asleep in the corner, crabby, or sitting in the director's office waiting for Mom to come pick him up. The kid with the belly ache at 8:30 has thrown up on the rug by 10 AM, and staff/maintenance is cleaning that up while all the other kids scream about how icky it is. In 2 days, the teachers will be sick from the onslaught of sick kids, and either the school has to have budget for subs or the director will be subbing in the classroom, which means the administrative work and licensing work isn't getting done. Your tuition fees include a surcharge (even though it's not labeled as such) to hire subs for sick teachers. If enough kids get sick, the teachers have to stay late or come in on Saturday to disinfect the toys and surfaces.

I can see if it was the last day of school or a very special project presentation or assembly day for elementary school kids. When I was teaching, we had parents bring a "sorta sick" kid in for just that presentation, and then take them home, to minimize exposure to everyone else.

But your child is not going to miss anything except some fun - and she needs to stay home until she's not contagious. That's not just a question of a fever.

I'm not germ phobic by any means. I have several friends who are teachers in preschool and elementary grades, and they work like crazy to keep their own immune systems strong and bolstered so they don't get sick. By and large, they don't get what's going around. But they are surrounded by colleagues who do, and we've even seen some school closings when a virus got out of hand and a huge percentage of staff and kids were affected.

Nothing bad will happen if your child stays home except that perhaps she'll be a little bored. That's okay in the grand scheme of things.

It sounds like a cold. IMO, not severe enough to stay home from school with no fever. I never make the final decision until the morning of school if we are on the fence. Take her temp in the morning, let that be your gage, especially if she's not acting miserable or complaining.

For fevers, preschools have policies (I think it`s 24 hours) for colds .. not so much, unless kids can`t participate in activities.

I kept mine home - I hate seeing draggy tired sickish kids in with busy crowded active environments - they just want to be home cuddled up and rest. So if we could, we always did. Extra day of rest can make all the difference.

Some people can't obviously, have to work. But I appreciated it when parents kept sick kids home.

Hope she's feeling better soon :)

Just because she doesn't have a fever doesn't mean that the other kids can't catch her sore throat and cough. I don't know what the "rule" is in your preschool. Did you read the manual?

I do think it would be nice of you to not send a child to preschool with your little one's symptoms if you don't have to.

Your school should have some guidelines as to when to keep your child home. Take a look at their sick policy. As well, use your own judgement. If you don't think the child is going to be comfortable with a whold day of school, keep her home.

At some point they have to learn to deal with some coughing and sneezing as long as they are not contageous. If it is during allergy season, which is now in my area, they have to keep going. As they get older, they will miss too many assignments and their grade will suffer.

If your child is running a fever or having pus come out of her nose in huge streams she should go to school.

Kids need to be fever free 24 hours before returning to school.

BUT BUT BUT

Check with your school as to WHAT they define a fever to be.

Our Head Start says 100.0 degrees, our old public school said 101.0 and our current school says 100.1.

So if your child has a 99 degree fever they do not have a real fever, their body is simply fighting off some germ and it doesn't even need Tylenol or Motrin.

So don't keep her home unless she is actually sick. She will be held back from absences.