Kids, stomach viruses, and school--help!

[HappyMommy2]

This is our first year with a kid in school so I'm not sure how to deal with this; can you help?
My 3-year-old came down with a bad tummy bug this evening (severe vomiting). My 5-year-old seems completely fine so far but certainly there's a good chance he (and the rest of us! Ugh!) will be showing symptoms soon.
My friend said that when one of her kids is sick, she keeps all the others home from school out of courtesy, on the assumption that they are incubating their sibling's germs and could pass them on to others at school.
I don't want to keep my son home from school when he seems 100% fine but I would feel awful if he came down with the bug at school, or went around unknowingly sharing germs all day and then got sick tomorrow night.

What do most parents do in this type of situation?

 

[Sandcass]

You are not expected to keep your healthy child home. I always just talk to them before sending them off. I tell them to pay attention to how they feel, and if their stomach starts to bother them AT ALL to tell the teacher they need to go to the nurse. You could also give the teacher a heads up about what's going on. Maybe she'll make extra efforts to have the kids in the class wash their hands alot, and keep an eye on your DS.

If your son wakes up fine, eats his normal breakfast and is full of energy then you don't HAVE to keep him home. If you want to out of courtesy then that's your decision. There's always a chance he won't get sick at all.

GOOD LUCK! Hope you don't get hit too hard by this bug!

 

[georgina]

I'm sure you'll get lots of opinions, but if one of mine is sick and the others are fine, I wouldn't keep them home. There are a lot of stomach viruses around now - I had DS home today with one, and both DD's are fine. No way could I expect my 15 year old honors student to miss a full day of classes because her brother's tummy hurts!

 

[kristen821]

I wouldn't keep a healthy child at home. Your kids would end up missing a lot of school if they had to stay home when they are sick and the other one is sick.

 

[golfgal]

DD was sick on Christmas Eve day, if that were a school day and I kept her home, and the boys, the boys would STILL be home because they never got sick. You can't keep all the kids home if one is sick. There is a good chance that your older child already had the bug that is going around and won't get sick at all. Also, there is a huge chance that half your child's class is incubating the bug and no one knows it, no one in their family is sick. Exposing your children to bug, not necessarily intentional but naturally buy being at school, etc, is good for their immune system. It helps build resistance to germs and once they have had most virus', they can't get them again.

 

[kbkids]

DD had the stomach flu right before Christmas. She was at a sleepover when she started throwing up, picked her up and brought her home. She threw up all afternoon! None of us got sick, nor did the family that she was spending the night with - including the little girl who I'm sure they were all up in each other's faces all night doing makeovers and all the other little girl stuff!

If your son seems fine, send him to school. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[HappyMommy2]

Thanks for your replies. My Kindergartener seemed 100% fine this morning so I took him to school, and left a message for his teacher explaining that younger DS had been sick. Hopefully all will be well.

 

[monarchsfan16]

If my sister was kept home everytime I had been sick, the poor kid would have never been in school. My mom's a teacher. She only kept me home when I told her no way no how could I handle school. Same with my sister now. Even with the worst stomach bugs that I got (and I have had a lot ), I only remember passing 1 or 2 onto my sister.