Keep Your Children at Home

[jellybeans0607]

Yes I do think you should people should keep kids home if they say "I don't feel good." Don't people know anymore when their kids are really sick or making excuses. Plus these kids are in 4th grade 9 and 10 year olds.

Most, if not all, school districts gave a limit of days your child can be absent. Of course you can go to the dr.s everytime your child says his tummy hurts, but thats a bit neurotic.
So if i had my 8yo stay home everytime her tummy hurt she would be staying back.
I'd rather she go on the the next grade. If they aren't in school, they aren't learning.
My daughter has thrown up in school. She was in the 2nd grade at lunch. She did tell me she wasn't feeling well that morning, and I did tell her if she wanted to she could stay home. Of course she didn't want to, she prides herself on her perfect attendance and her school work. So I sent her to school and told her if she wanted to come home let the nurse know. Well, she sure let the nurse know.

 

[ChristineAndMatt29]

I also agree that you should keep your kids home if they tell you they don't feel good in the morning. Especially the little ones. I work with children pre-kindergarten through second grade and we've sent them home with fifth disease multiple times, which is contagious before the VISIBLE (bright red, rashy cheeks) appear. Sometime before that, they probably have said they did not feel good and the parents brushed it off

 

[DisneyCampers]

I have a 9 yr old that would not feel good everyday if it meant she could stay home from school. That being said I am also a nurse and can tell when something is really wrong. I hate to tell everyone though but your child has usually already been infected beofre the sick child shows symptoms. Also we a lot of diseases you are not contagious 24 hrs after starting antibiotics even if you may still show symptoms. I am prone to step throat and everytime I get it my Dr tells me to start my antibiotic take off 24 hrs and go back to work even if I still am not feeling good. Also green runny noses =infection but not always contagious could be a su=inus infection. I don't worry about DD being around kids in her class that are showing symptoms shes already been exposed. But I do agree a truly sick child needs to be at home in a bed where they can get better faster.

 

[marcyinPA]

I have to say this. Im a preschool teacher and LOVE my job. I work with twos. It is getting to be cold season and if your child has a GREEN runny nose and GREEN goop comming out of there eyes keep them home! I try to be understanding about parents having to work and having to pay the very high rate of child care but loading your child with cold meds and sending them to preschool is not ok. You risk other children getting sick and even the teacher. No matter how much hand washing and bleach water you use we still get sick. Sorry just had to let that out

Amen, Sistah! I also teach 2's in a private pre-school. This year I have four classes of 12 kids, 8 of whom overlap and come 2 days instead of one. So, that's 40 kids total every week. I have at least 3 or 4 in each class who come with the crusty, green, snotty nose. It's AWFUL. They get the boogies everywhere, and I'm constantly wiping noses. Really, downright gross! Unfortunately, no matter how much you emphasize keeping them home when they are like this, most parents still send them, making sure you know they are on meds

Please, keep those kids home until they are feeling better....you don't want your kids' teacher sick! (or the other children in the class for that matter!)

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Most, if not all, school districts gave a limit of days your child can be absent. Of course you can go to the dr.s everytime your child says his tummy hurts, but thats a bit neurotic.
So if i had my 8yo stay home everytime her tummy hurt she would be staying back.
I'd rather she go on the the next grade. If they aren't in school, they aren't learning.
My daughter has thrown up in school. She was in the 2nd grade at lunch. She did tell me she wasn't feeling well that morning, and I did tell her if she wanted to she could stay home. Of course she didn't want to, she prides herself on her perfect attendance and her school work. So I sent her to school and told her if she wanted to come home let the nurse know. Well, she sure let the nurse know.

If your kid is telling you that her stomach hurts so many times in 1 school year, that if you kept her home all those times then you're afraid she would be held back, then maybe there is something else going on.

How many times is that? 10, 20? Is she lying because she doesn't want to go to school or does her stomach really hurt?

And just so she can get perfect attendance you sent her to school so sick she threw up in the lunch room ? Nice!

What if she threw up on another little kid? Plus I'm sure all those kids really felt like eating after they seen your daughter upchuck all over the lunch room. Another thing kids can be cruel, thirty years after one of the kids I went to first grade with threw up in class, I could still remember his name, and you know that poor kid still got teased about it in high school.

I'm not saying its right but kids are nasty.

 

[marcyinPA]

Totally agree. I work in a special ed preschool class and our kids frequently come in with green runny noses. Preschoolers aren't very good at managing the stuff that comes out of their noses. They wipe it with their hands and on their sleeves and then it gets everywhere. If they do get a tissue, they don't know how it use it properly. They just dab at it or smear it across their faces instead of actually wiping it up. We wipe noses all the time but we can't always catch every runny nose in time.

We send home our school's health guidelines several times during the year. These are the reasons a child should stay home:

1. Green or yellow discharge from the eyes or nose.
2. A cough that is productive or is bad enough to make the child unable to function at school.
3. A sore throat.
4. A fever over 100.2. The child must be fever-free for 24 hours before returning to school.
4. Vomiting within the past 24 hours.
5. Diarrhea
6. An undiagnosed rash

I'm sure I'm missing something but those are the main points. I once had a mom call our classroom to tell us her son had thrown-up that morning and could we please keep an eye on him? I had another mom call to say her son had diarrhea and could we take him to the bathroom more frequently and make sure he eats his crackers at snacktime? Both moms were asked to come and pick their kids up right away.

I teach 2's, and had a newly potty trained little girl last year who came to school with diarreah, wearing panties and tights under a dress!! What a HUGE MESS that was to clean up! We called her mother to come get her, and her mother had the nerve to tell us that she was fine, it was from her allergies!! Oh, and no, don't put her in a diaper because she'll backslide on the potty training. Ummm, no...sorry, but you need to come get her because I am not cleaning up diarreah underwear all morning and teaching 11 other little angels at the same time. The nerve of some people!!!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I teach 2's, and had a newly potty trained little girl last year who came to school with diarreah, wearing panties and tights under a dress!! What a HUGE MESS that was to clean up! We called her mother to come get her, and her mother had the nerve to tell us that she was fine, it was from her allergies!! Oh, and no, don't put her in a diaper because she'll backslide on the potty training. Ummm, no...sorry, but you need to come get her because I am not cleaning up diarreah underwear all morning and teaching 11 other little angels at the same time. The nerve of some people!!!

I have another one where that came from. We had a little boy who was pretty severely autistic and basically non-verbal. He couldn't tell us when he felt sick so we had to learn his body language. One day, he pulled up the back of his shirt, layed down and started scratching his back on the carpet. We checked under his shirt and, sure enough, his entire torso was covered with hives! We called his mom right away to pick him up. A rash can be contagious and needs to be diagnosed before a child returns to school. What did mom say? "My baby is taking his nap and I can't wake him up and put him in the car." We told her the older guy really needed to be picked up. Not only was he possibly contagious but he was clearly miserable. He needed Benadryl, Calamine Lotion or some kind of relief that she needed to provide, not to mention a trip to the doctor. She said, "Well, actually I could put the baby in the car but his nap time is the only time I get by myself all day. Can't you keep him at school for another hour or so?" Um, no. You need to pick him up now or we're going to have to involve the principal. So mom hightailed herself to school to get the poor, itchy boy. I had told her I would walk him out as soon as I saw her car. So I get out there and the baby is not in the carseat. I said, "Oh good, you must have found someone to watch the baby." She said, "No, I put the phone in the crib and I have the line open on my cell phone." Huh? Yes, we told the principal and CPS was called on that one!!!!!

 

[marcyinPA]

I have another one where that came from. We had a little boy who was pretty severely autistic and basically non-verbal. He couldn't tell us when he felt sick so we had to learn his body language. One day, he pulled up the back of his shirt, layed down and started scratching his back on the carpet. We checked under his shirt and, sure enough, his entire torso was covered with hives! We called his mom right away to pick him up. A rash can be contagious and needs to be diagnosed before a child returns to school. What did mom say? "My baby is taking his nap and I can't wake him up and put him in the car." We told her the older guy really needed to be picked up. Not only was he possibly contagious but he was clearly miserable. He needed Benadryl, Calamine Lotion or some kind of relief that she needed to provide, not to mention a trip to the doctor. She said, "Well, actually I could put the baby in the car but his nap time is the only time I get by myself all day. Can't you keep him at school for another hour or so?" Um, no. You need to pick him up now or we're going to have to involve the principal. So mom hightailed herself to school to get the poor, itchy boy. I had told her I would walk him out as soon as I saw her car. So I get out there and the baby is not in the carseat. I said, "Oh good, you must have found someone to watch the baby." She said, "No, I put the phone in the crib and I have the line open on my cell phone." Huh? Yes, we told the principal and CPS was called on that one!!!!!

OMGosh, that is so neglectful! We've had parents leave sleeping babies in the car while they come in to drop off/pick up their other children, and we thought THAT is bad. It's really sad to think that people are that selfish/stupid to leave an infant home alone.

 

[RMulieri]

.

In this technological age that we live in, most parents can work from home and remotely access work files, e-mail and call into meetings.

Uh no...Well, you must be fortunate.Both me and Dh work as an RN and a Pharmacist...definitely can't work from home.Most of my neighbors and friends are ...nurses,doctors,and teachers ..they can't work from home either.

 

[Drewsmommybear]

As a teacher and a mother of a child in preschool, I am so in agreement with all of this...and I'm harboring some guilt about this subject. I would never intentionally send my son to school sick. When he's in that shape, all I want is for him to be home with me so we can curl up, read a lot of books and watch some Planet Heroes movies. But, I have one of those kids that is so hard to read. He never says that he's in pain or feeling sick so we have to watch him carefully. Case in point--last week he had strep throat and we didn't figure out that he was sick until he had a raging fever. I'm not winning mother of the year for that one.

But wait, there's more! Yesterday, my DH drops DS off at his school and he says, "something must have bitten our son because there's a bump on his head." I didn't think anything of it until his teacher called to say that more appeared all over his face. My DS dropped him off at my school and when he did, my son was also limping and our pediatrician was out of the day. You better believe that we hightailed it to the ER where they told me that there's a "chance" that he has chicken pox and another virus called toxic synovitus. We know nothing for sure right now but what I do know is that if he has the chicken pox, I in advertantly exposed a lot of kids to the disease, vaccinated or not (DS was vaccinated). He won't go back until we talk to our real doctor.

But I can't tell you how badly I feel about sending him to school sick.

 

[robandkelly13]

This doesn't seem to change as they get older either. I teach 10th grade and some of my students drag themselves to school dying.

 

[nilseks]

I've got the story that can top them all. I used to teach 2's, many years ago. This one little boy was SUCH a beast, but I felt bad for him b/c he practically lived in daycare. He was the first one in the door at 6 a.m., and often his mother was not there to pick him up when the center closed at 6 p.m. One night she didn't pick him up until well past 7.

Chicken pox was going around the center and it was the worst in my classroom. We had a sign on the front door that said all children MUST be checked by a teacher before their parents could leave (we had to check armpits and tummy, where the pox first start to show up). This particular mother opened up the door to our class, shoved her child in, and RAN out of the center. Literally ran! Sure enough, I lifted his shirt and he was covered in chicken pox!!! When we tried to call the mom at work, she wouldn't answer the phone. The poor child had to sit in the director's office the entire day until his mom came back, at which point they told her never to return again.

 

[Tricia819]

Yes, but..... as daycare parents we do make choices but we also have a responsibility to our kids and to the other children in the class. I save my sick and vacation days so that if I have a sick child i can call in. That is the responsible thing to do. Eeven if you do not have the sick days employers are required to give you the time b/c of FMLA. Once it reaches 3 consecutive days it becomes FMLA leave and employers are legally required to allow you to be off and to pay you if you have the sick days. You are allowed up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave days per year. All that is required for proof is a doctor's note.[/QUOTE]

You can only get FMLA if you work for a company that employs more than fifty people.

I used to work for a doctor's office (yeah, you'd think they'd know better, but what can I say the guy is an a!!h#&e.) and if I'd called in everytime one of my kids had a runny nose I would have been fired.

 

[Tricia819]

Yes I do think you should people should keep kids home if they say "I don't feel good." Don't people know anymore when their kids are really sick or making excuses. Plus these kids are in 4th grade 9 and 10 year olds.

My DD is one of those kids that claims "I don't feel good" whenever she doesn't want to go to school. However, if she's not vomiting, running a fever, or in some other way visably ill, she goes to school. If she develops visable symptoms after she gets there I go get her. What the OP could've meant was that when you have a child that "crys wolf" frequently with no obvious signs of illness you assume they are faking it again.

 

[jamesmommy]

Yes I do think you should people should keep kids home if they say "I don't feel good." Don't people know anymore when their kids are really sick or making excuses. Plus these kids are in 4th grade 9 and 10 year olds.

I was one of those kids. I often had allergies that caused coughs, runny noses and scratchy throats. I had stomach issues and got bus sick daily. I would have missed more school than I attended, if I missed school every day I honestly "didn't feel well". I would say I still missed over the 10 days that children are allowed today.

Unfortunately, if you keep your child home too many days because they simply "don't feel good", they will (a) fail for missing too many school days or (b) cost you a fortune in dr. bills to get excuses, (c) cause you to have to pay fines or face possible jail time for said child missing too much school, or (d) all of the above.

Daycare is different, you won't normally face ramifications if your child misses days, in most cases you pay whether or not your child is there or not.

 

[Tricia819]

Schools are getting ridiculous with absences. I used to work for a neurologist and we would see kids with serious neurological problems (seizures, migraines, MS, etc.) and some of their schools wouldn't even accept absences with a doctor's excuse. If they missed more than X amount of school days due to their condition or related medical care (everyone wanted the 4-5 p.m. appointment times so they were really hard to get) they would flunk that semester no matter if they were completing the work and getting good grades or not.

 

[parmtoo]

I own and operate my own Daycare, and I really wish parent's would keep their sick kids home.......I sent home 4 kids last week that were sick when they got dropped off. It's very important for parent's to have a "back-up" care plan for their children, ie, grandparent's, siblings, friends, ect. Child care providers have to worry about the health of all of the other children in care as well. If you have a job that does not allow you to miss a day here and there for your child, have a back up plan, please!

 

[Minnie_me]

I'm a teacher and a parent. I think that too many parents view school as *FREE DAYCARE*. They will give the school nurse a hard time when she calls to tell them about their sick child, claiming that they have no one else to watch the child.

As a parent, it is your responsibility to have those back-ups in place. Not the school's problem! It's hard for me, as a teacher, to just pick up and leave when my child gets sick at school. So my husband usually takes that call, and then I'll make plans to stay home the next day if needed. If DH can't do it for some reason, my MIL is our next backup. We also have two neighbors who are home, and we would ask them in a BIG pinch!

I've had parents send in notes saying that their child was up all night vomiting or with diarrhea, and still they send them to school!

Or, I also love it when the child has a fever, but the parent gives them Tylenol or Motrin to mask the fever, and sends them off to school!

 

[Eeyoresfriend]

ITA,

Not even just children. If you are sick, don't go to work!! That's what sick days are for. My boss came to work sick last week, and guess what, now I have the crud. Not fun at all!! Especially since I'm going to Miami on tuesday for work. Flying sick is no bueno. Luckily I have a few days (away from work) to shake this cold. I usually get sick 1 time a year during the summer, and I don't go to work, b/c there are way too many people there that I can get sick.

Sorry, just had to vent a little.

 

[Tricia819]

ITA,

Not even just children. If you are sick, don't go to work!! That's what sick days are for. My boss came to work sick last week, and guess what, now I have the crud. Not fun at all!! Especially since I'm going to Miami on tuesday for work. Flying sick is no bueno. Luckily I have a few days (away from work) to shake this cold. I usually get sick 1 time a year during the summer, and I don't go to work, b/c there are way too many people there that I can get sick.

Sorry, just had to vent a little.

Your lucky, where I used to work unless you were vomiting or running a high fever you did NOT call in. I came to work once and I couldn't talk at all, but otherwise felt o.k. Instead of sending me home they gave me something to do that didn't require talking and when I did start to feel like crud toward the end of the day my boss threw a hissy about letting me go home early. The next day I got part of my voice back and customers were complaining because they couldn't hear me.