Skipping School During Flu Outbreak?

I would absolutely skip unless you're going to get in trouble for truancy. They're so young I wouldn't worry about it otherwise.

Hope you guys have a nice vacation!

For us this is a short week with winter break starting on Friday, so I would not be worried about skipping. There will be no homework or anything, just time for kids who are behind to complete missing work and the like, which my kids don't have.

My vote is "yes", skip it. Without a doubt in my mind. I would do the exact same thing, especially at the ages they are right now.

For kindergarten and preschool - it's no big deal.
You're fine if you want to keep them home till after vacation is finished.

Additional:
I'm so glad the school is seeing it your way!
We got our shots early this year.
We're usually pretty healthy.
It didn't stop me and our son getting sick this last weekend.
Chills (so bad we were shivering), aches, extreme tired - UGH!
Still, we're getting over it in only a few days - so my guess is the vaccine helped make it less bad than it could have been.
Years ago I got the flu (before I started getting the shots every year) and I felt like I'd been run over by a truck for a solid 2 weeks and even then felt exhausted for a good month after that.
If he wasn't in high school I'd have kept our son home another day to sleep and rest up some more but he has so much work to keep up with - he can't afford to do more than one day off.
He's just glad we got it over with before winter break starts!

At that age, I'd keep them home, even though it won't guarantee keeping everyone healthy.

Take the week off. Asthma ~ substitute ~ a type of epidemic in your area ~ keep her home.

As a teacher, I normally would say that missing school isn't good. In your case, I say skip it. A community near ours just had a 17 year old senior who died from the flu and possibly pneumonia. She was healthy. No history of asthma or other respiratory problems ever. She had the flu shot. One of my coworkers is friends with the family. She and her husband have discussed keeping their kids home. There has been the equivalent of an entire grade level at the high school out sick with the same symptoms she had. Knowing your daughter has asthma, I wouldn't risk it. Missing a week of school in kindergarten is not that bad.

Taking kids out of school is frowned upon by the school but done all the time. Just let them know. It's not a question of a kindergartener missing vital work, just the idea of families taking too many vacations and disrupting the dynamics in the classroom. But I agree, if the teacher is out, limited work is getting done.

I understand you want to keep her healthy, but remember that the germs are everywhere - grocery store, doctor's office, mall, neighbors, etc. A school in my state closed a week or so ago due to rampant stomach flu, so schools are certainly breeding grounds.

It's your call.

Keeping them out of school doesn't mean they won't get sick. They can just as easily get the flu while you are running errands. Or you and your husband could bring home germs that will not make you sick (because its something you have build up immunity to from a past illness) but will make your kids sick. If you are that concerned with your daughter's exposure to the flu you should have 1) gotten her a flu shot or 2) have her wear a mask when she's out of the house.

As far as upper resp stuff making her really sick? The minute she starts showing signs of a cold or uri you need to start her on her nebulizer and inhaled steroids. Don't take a wait and see approach to a cold. Going full force on anything uri will cut down on her chance of getting really sick.

I would definitely consider it if either you or he can stay home with the kids. I assume your kids are vaccinated but that is not 100%. It is also likely that they have already been exposed (especially if the K teacher is out with the flu) and will either get it or not at this point. On the other hand, one of your kids is at high risk for complications. Definitely contact your pediatrician immediately if they get sick - they are likely good candidates for Tamiflu to decrease severity and shorten the duration of the flu. It needs to be given ASAP after symptoms develop.

And it's kindergarten, not college they will be missing.

Wow!! Almost half of the school is out with it? SCARY!! I would keep my kids home.

Yes, they will miss a lot of fun Christmas celebrations - especially if the school is a Christian private school, but likely they won't remember them anyways.

If one of you can stay home with them, I would keep mine at home. The flu is nothing to mess around with and apparently the vaccination this year isn't going to do much help for those who got it.

My son had a perfect record, then boom got sick and now has one absent day. The pressure if off and now I feel okay having him miss the last hour for a dentist appointment.

Anyway, do what you feel like doing. Public school is weird about missed days (truancy for kindergartners for missing 3 days without a sick excuse). Some public schools actually encourage you to take the whole week because they get funded in a way that is the make sense (I am not saying I agree with it). I can't explain it, but a friend of mine took her kid out for 2.5 days and was lectured and told, had you missed the whole week you could have filled out some out of school learning thing (i have no idea what it is called). Read your school's absent policy.

I would say do what you think is best for your family. I personally would not skip school but then again i don't have a vacation coming up, if i did i just might keep the kids out. But keep in mind that flu is very easy to contract so chances of you picking it up at the store, doctors office etc is pretty high. Wash hands all the time!
Good luck!

I would personally say no. If it has been going on for 3 weeks, your kiddos have already been exposed. There are so many fun activities the week before the holidays (even with a sub) that your kids would miss out on, plus there are the days missed to consider for your child in Kinder. If they actually did get sick later this year, these 5 days missed could be an issue for truancy and attendance issues, that no one would want to face. In our district kids can miss 10 days total, otherwise they can be retained without proper paperwork. I wouldn't feel comfortable using 5 of those days on a "What If...".

I guess if you plan on keeping them in the house the whole week maybe. If you are that worried, you do realize that if you step out of the house they can get it. They might even be harboring it now. I also think if your daughter has to be hospitalized every time she gets sick, her asthma is definitely not under control. Might want to consider a new doc for her since what your present doc is doing does not work.

Kindergarten and below? I just might. Definitely for the preschooler. For the kindergartner, I'd find out what they will miss and work on those skills at home this week.

The only thing that would really give me pause, is that often the class will have a holiday party this week. If you plan to keep your kid home, be sure and tell the teacher in advance, so that she is aware not to expect your child. She probably spends $$ out of her own pocket for that and for gifts for each child (at least our prek and Kinder teachers always did)... And you need to prepare your child (if they are aware of the party(ies)) that they will not be there or participate.

For preschool and K, I would totally take them out if that much was at steak. I would add that if it were me, for a whole week of missed for K, I would get the Math and phonics work to take home. If thats not possible, I would do math games and reading at home that week to keep her from losing too much before the christmas break is over. But yes, I think in these grades your idea is reasonable.

I read your question, got an email from our school saying that today there is very high volume of students missing due to flu like symptoms. We are in Northern Il, as well. I will be bringing my computer home with me all week, due to the possibility of me needing to be home with my little guy.

Public school? Makes a difference. Definitely do as others recommend and check the truancy policies immediately. Kindergarteners DO get in trouble with schools for truancy and it can follow you for quite a while.

The fact you have a severely asthmatic child at what looks like very high risk for serious complications would be a valid reason to take her out of school right now, vacation or no vacation (and I would not mention the vacation if you tell others you are removing her from school). If you would remove her for the week to protect her, regardless of the vacation --then do so, but be sure your doctor will provide a note covering the entire week and saying that she is at high risk of complications. It's no vacation fib -- it's true!

Is your preschooler in a public school preschool and therefore somehow required to be there or he or she will be marked as a truant? Our kid did local, private preschool so we could pull her out whenever for any reason with no impact other than not getting what we were paying for. If your preschooler is not required by law to be there and it's private preschool, pull him or her out if you want.

I would make a big effort to get the kindergartener's work for the week and have her doing it at home. She might be behind when she returns. I assume your winter break starts at the end of this week, right? While the class might be doing very little real work this week, at least make the effort, both so the school knows you care and so your child realizes she's not home just for an extended vacation. They do learn good habits early, and one good habit is not missing school unless it's truly essential. Having her do the work reminds her that she's got a job to do even though she's home.

As someone else noted--they may be infected already and it hasn't shown up yet. I hope not. But please be open to that fact and the idea that if they are sick you may have to delay the start of the vacation. Don't pressure yourself or let your husband pressure you or the kids to rush off if they do get ill. I have a friend who, right now, needs knee surgery Christmas week but her husband is so determined that they take their planned Christmas vacation that he blindly expects her to postpone surgery and drive a thousand miles with him each way feeling horrible the whole week and possibly getting worse. I know the situation's somewhat different, but the idea is, don't let plans, even long-made, badly-needed ones, blind you as they have blinded him.

What does your doctor say? Your doctor has seen all the kids who have been sick. He or she will let you know if it is in your daughter's best interest to miss school or not.

Well, they've been exposed for 3 weeks so what's different about this week?

I am not one for skipping school. I understand it is "just K and preschool".

Just because there is a sub in the classroom does not mean they are not teaching. I am a long term sub and things work just like they do when I am in the room as it does when the teacher is in the room.

It is most important to check your school policy for absentee. Children are excused with Dr. notes to an extent.

When my daughter was in 10th grade, she got sick often and she is one who was never, ever sick and never missed school. She had great attendance with less then 3 days ever missed from class from K - 10. I had Dr. notes, copies of Dr. bills and more and we were threatened with truancy court when she was truly sick. If you miss a couple of days when someone is not sick, it would be much harder for you in the long run when you are back from vacay and then one of your children are out sick for real.

You have to do what is best for your family because you know your family better than we do.

I agree that the curriculum in K and preschool are not as tedious as upper level grades but you don't want to set a standard in your child's mind that it is ok to miss school for various reasons.

Good luck on your decision and I hope your vacation is a success.

We get the flu shot so I wouldn't worry about having to miss school to avoid the flu.

I would just start the chewable Vitamin C's!! During this time of year we start 1,000 mg. twice a day. At the first sign of anything it goes to 5,000 twice a day. Works for us!!!

Though I would not normally say to stay home, it sounds like you have the option. I would make sure the kids have the right homework so they are not behind. Years ago I went to a very small private school and everyone got chicken pox. They closed school for a few days, maybe a week, because attendance was so low.

All things considered, I would vote to have them stay home! They are still young and will not miss much. It will definitely be harder when they're older. My oldest is in 7th at a private school. We hate to have her miss because she will have hours upon hours of work to make up. So for now, keep them home and healthy and enjoy your vacation!