Keep Your Children at Home

[deb24k]

I'm not very concerned about passing germs after the onset of symtoms as most children are contagious prior to symptoms. However I work for a public school preschool program. We are not a day care. We have only a few parents who send their children from us to Day Care. Yet children still come to school sick. Not a cold; SICK. We have a part time nurse. If I am caring for your sick child one on one, I am not caring for or aiding the other children under my ospices. This is absolutely inappropriate (if the parent had knowledge that the child was ill) Somehow it often seems to be the same parents who send their children to school ill. I have extremely needy children under my supervision their safety and well being is compromised when I am attending to the needs of a sick child.

 

[Eeyoresfriend]

I can say I work for a really good company. We work with the public, and at least for my people, if they are sick I do't want them coming in, b/c if it spreads through the Dept, it hurts business, plus I don't want them getting customers sick. I tell them, if your running a fever go home, if your vomiting, go home. If it's just the sniffles, grab a kleenex.

 

[Belle1962]

Also--please look at the revised recommendations for the flu shot. Not looking for a debate on "vaccination" but just so you know:


http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm


People who should get vaccinated each year are: Children aged 6 months up to their 19th birthday

 

[RMulieri]

I see both sides of the argument, and it is a slippery slope. Please try to see the other side.No one wants to get sick, and no one wants a sick child brought into public places.But a lot of occupations and companies have very unforgiving attendance policies. As a nurse in a hospital.I am allowed 3 /rotating calendar year. 4th is a verbal warning which is documented in my file, 5th is a write up, 6 th suspension pending termination.I try to conserve my abscences( to care for a sick child) which means going to work ill myself..which is not good either.Especially since I work with Cancer pts that have no immune system.I am not eligible for FMLA because i work under the amount of required hours per year.There are lots of people out there like me.Some of us do not want to work, we have to.Sometimes looking for a job elsewhere is also not possible, especially with companies letting people go at a rapid clip.On the other hand I sympathize with the teachers, parents, and children that get exposed to illness.I admit I do send DD to daycare /preschool with a runny nose( not green snot) .If I kept her home everytime she had a sniffle she would never be in school.I keep her home for fevers,green snot,vomiting and or diarrhea.

 

[Minnie_me]

I see both sides of the argument, and it is a slippery slope. Please try to see the other side.No one wants to get sick, and no one wants a sick child brought into public places.But a lot of occupations and companies have very unforgiving attendance policies. As a nurse in a hospital.I am allowed 3 /rotating calendar year. 4th is a verbal warning which is documented in my file, 5th is a write up, 6 th suspension pending termination.I try to conserve my abscences( to care for a sick child) which means going to work ill myself..which is not good either.Especially since I work with Cancer pts that have no immune system.I am not eligible for FMLA because i work under the amount of required hours per year.There are lots of people out there like me.Some of us do not want to work, we have to.Sometimes looking for a job elsewhere is also not possible, especially with companies letting people go at a rapid clip.On the other hand I sympathize with the teachers, parents, and children that get exposed to illness.I admit I do send DD to daycare /preschool with a runny nose( not green snot) .If I kept her home everytime she had a sniffle she would never be in school.I keep her home for fevers,green snot,vomiting and or diarrhea.

I don't think that anyone ever said not to send your child to school if she has the sniffles. We're talking TRUE contagious illnesses, where the child is not just contagious, but doesn't feel well enough to learn - or sometimes even function - at school.

We (teachers) do understand that it's difficult for many parents to take time off work. I teach in a rural district, where most of my parents have the types of jobs where you don't get paid if you don't show up. That's very difficult. HOWEVER>.......it's the responsibility of the parent to have backups in place. I know that most sitters won't take sick kids, but a family member or a neighbor needs to be in the lineup for these sorts of situations.

 

[starann]

Thankfully I have a mother in law who will drive over an hour to watch my kids when they are sick and can't go to daycare, so my kids stay home when they are sick.

When my older son 1st started going to daycare he was sick more than he wasn't, which was frustrating as back then my MIL worked ft. He came down with a BAD virus that had him in the drs office 3x, the labs for multiple test and when the dr thought it was mono, he informed us our son wouldn't be able to go to dc for 6 weeks if the test was positive. We panicked!!! I was preg with #2 and could not take 6 weeks off of work as I would be taking time off when we had the baby. We couldn't afford for me to take the time unpaid. Thankfully it wasn't mono and he only missed a week of daycare, but I can understand how some parents are stuck when it comes to this situation. My son doesn't get sick as often as he did before (his immunity is great).

I am a visiting nurse, so I see sick people 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Last year I saw 6 people who had tested + for the flu (I was vaccinatied, as were those patient, it was a bad year for the flu), each week I see at least 2 people who are positive for MRSA (some weeks more). I take precautions to keep my family safe, but stuff happens, people get sick, kids go to school fine and parents get calls to pick them up. I usually can't go pick my kids up should I get a call from the school.....I have patients who are waiting for me at their houses, bloodwork to get, meds to clarify.....if I get a call in my day it is extremely difficult to drop everything and pick them up.....that and I can be an hour and a half away from dc some days. Do I want my child to sit there and suffer....no...do I want to infect the rest of the class...no....sometimes it can't be helped. Having had the kids in dc for awhile I know that there are some parents who constantly break this rule of common sense, but not all parents do.

 

[Willow25]

As a parent that works fulltime and has a child in daycare I can definitely see both sides of the argument. We always keep our daughter home for a green runny nose or eyes. However I will have to start making some tough choices because I can not sustain my very needed job if I have to continue to stay home so much. The reality is that my daughter is exposed to those nasty germs on a daily basis and gets everything that comes through the center. I drop her off and see other kids with green runny noses and eyes and I think here we go again. If other parents are not willing/able to stay home with their kids when they have green runny noses then me keeping my child home is useless unless of course she is miserable.

I understand teachers frustration because as you said you have to work as well. The real answer though is more realistic family leave entitlements for working parents. I, like other posters have to come to work sick because I save all my time for my daughter. I guess I think it is important to understand that a lot of parents try to do the right thing but it is not always possible.

 

[mom2princessj]

I feel very lucky I'm able to stay at home with my kids and work from home. My dh and I have often talked about the 'what ifs' when the kids get sick and someone needs to take time off. It's a delicate balancing act.
There is a child at dd's preschool that ALWAYS comes in sick. He's got green snot coming out of his nose and definitely should NOT be going. I'm not sure if his parents both work days (I know his mother is a nurse) or if his dad works nights but I would think they would keep him home when he is like this. Thankfully my dd has never come down with anything that bad. Her immunity seems to be very good.
I really don't know how working parents can do it because it's so tough with the way employers expectations are when it comes to missing work. I know personally we have NO family or friends close that could keep our kids so we'd be up a creek if I didn't work at home. I feel for parents and understand the teachers side of it too (obviously I'd rather my kids not be exposed to this either but understandably its just not realistic because some people just have to send them to daycare/school). It's a hard choice but sometimes its beyond the parents control...have to work to pay the bills, can't afford to get fired for missing work, etc.