If your children are in school...

...please don't send them to school sick. Dosing a fever with tylenol in the morning does NOT cure them, it just masks a symptom. By sending them to school with a little medicine in them, you now are infecting the rest of the class. Those children then infect their siblings, and those siblings then infect their classes! A fever means your child should stay home. That absolutely ridiculous "perfect attendance award" does not mean anything except that your child may have been the one to start the stomach virus, or strep throat, or the flu in the class. If your child has thrown up within the last 24 hours, do not send them to school. (And don't say you're sending hand sanitizer...it does not work on stomach viruses.)

Also, teach your children not to suck on their thumbs, fingers, or shirtsleeves. They catch and pass a lot of germs that way. (And it's gross to see a child whose wristbands are soaking wet with saliva resting those arms on a table or desk where other children are going to sit.)

 

Then the school system needs to quit rewarding "perfect attendance" It encourages parents to send their kids to school sick.

 

When I've complained about that, I've been told that too many parents have harassed the schools because without perfect attendance, their average child does not receive an award. (Makes sense...not everyone in the world is above average!) Because of the parents who have raised such a stink, the schools award it. So it still boils down to PARENTS not doing what they should.

 

Right ..its on the parents

Also, keeping sick child home & explaining that staying home when necessary versus receiving some type of paper (that will in years get tossed out more then likely) is more of a responsible thing to do for everyone around.

Parents can then reward the child with perfect attendance instead.

Too many illnesses going on by everyone trying to be superhuman and not take care of themselves when sick. Inconsiderate to others.

 

We need to be a country more tolerant of sick leave. It has become a practice for most parents to send their kids to school sick because they have no choice in the matter. Many people do not have the luxury of having a family member nearby or neighbor that stays at home to help them with this issue. Although I haven't had to worry about this for the past 15 years as I work for myself, I've worked at places in the past that allowed for only 4 sick days per year, grant you consecutive days was considered one occurrence that still doesn't leave much room to spare when you have kids.
So, although I understand what you're stating and I for one never did this but I also had family nearby for me, some people just don't have a choice in the matter, it's send the kids to school sick and dodge the issue of potential problems with your employment. I've seen many of my past co-workers in so much hot water because they had exceeded their yearly sick days because of their kids (mostly single parents).

 

Were those parents always out because their child was sick? Did they call in sick in order to go on a field trip, attend a class party, or go to the awards ceremony to see their child get that piece of paper? Did they keep their child out every time the kid said, "I don't feel good" or was the child actually sick? (Allergies versus the flu). In other words, did they use their sick leave for its intended use, or did they waste it?

I know parents who keep their kids out to go shopping, have a "mental health day", and because they would rather their child take the EOG as a make-up test instead of on the the actual test day. I've had experience with 5 different counties in NC, and all of them have this problem. I've seen parents keep their kids home because it was "raining too hard" for them to wait at the bus stop.

My kids know they will go to school during allergy season. They also know they will be kept at home no matter what great things are happening at school if they have a fever or an upset stomach. (Yes, that means they might miss the Christmas party, or the field trip, or the Artists in the School event, etc. Unlike the two kindergarten parents who admitted their children were too sick to be at school but they "hated for them to miss the fun.") On the other hand, I've seen students throw up on the school bus, go home and get changed, and be brought back to school. (You can probably guess what happened in that class over the next week.) I've had students tell me "the doctor says it's the flu, but Daddy had a meeting at work today". (That class had over half the students out with the flu within the next week.)

When a sick child is brought to school, they infect others. That sick child also gets even more sick since they are exposed to other germs AND not given a chance to rest in order to help fight off the illness.

 

I could not agree with this more my daughter was sick during the first quarter of school her teacher made a special snack day for the students however if you did not miss any days of school that quarter your parents could attend the special snack time I was not very happy about this because I felt like my child was punished by seeing other kids there with there parents but because she was actually sick and i made her stay home she still missed a day.

 

And this extends to adults as well

I hate ending up sick because everyone at work is hacking and sniffling.

 

Maybe Businesses should start promoting perfect attendance...then when they see what happens to their staff passing around the flu and other viruses, they'll relax a bit when those that have dependents (kids, spouses, parents, etc) that need them for a sick day, they'll understand.

My wife lost her job because my son was sick and I was unable to take care of him due to my job (one of us had to work, and I made more money than she did at the time). So I understand both sides of it. You want your child to succeed, and in today's culture where everyone gets a participation ribbon, your child wants to shine and show off that perfect attendance award.
But your employer will fire you if you don't show up. and if your child is sick one day and you take off to care for them, and then you end up sick b/c of it, you use more days, and then you lose your job. And it's hard to find jobs. So you do what you have to.
If you had a place to drop off your kids when they were sick, that would be wonderful.

maybe i'll open up a place like that...everyone gets their own clean room....

 

What a stupid thing for a teacher to reward! Why not give a special snacks for kids who complete all of their classwork/homework that quarter or have good conduct all quarter?

 

I worked at Wake Med for over 10 years, just think about all the germs we as employees carried home. For the most part I'd like to think that the vast majority of the parents that I worked with were honestly in a tough situation when it came to sending semi-sick kids to school or losing their jobs. Wake Med at the time I worked there had a very strict sick day policy. In my department we had a fairly large number of single parents with no family nearby, so I pretty much can vouch that if they sent their kid to school sick they had no choice, food on the table, roof over your head versus keeping the kid home. It seems to me, and I might be very wrong, but you seem to be grouping all the parents into one big pot, grant you I'm 100% sure there are those that send the sick kid to school for no other reason that they don't want to have to deal with a sick kid, so they send him/her to school but certainly you can agree that there are some of those parents that simply don't have a choice for that one day etc. FYI, people are infectious 24-48 hours before the first symptom.

 

I do not, by any means, think every parent chooses to send a sick child to school because they want to. I know it can be a hardship to find childcare. (This is when I wish I had the money to start a "sick child daycare" with each child getting a little cubicle with a cot...there used to be one in Greenville when we lived there.)

However, there is a HUGE difference between sending a child to school with a sinus infection and a bottle of hand-sanitizer/box of tissues and going to the doctor Monday, getting a flu diagnosis, and sending the child to school on Tuesday. Or for the parent who was vice-president of a company sending her child to school right after he threw up because she didn't want to rearrange her schedule. I know parents who own their own businesses who will send their very sick children to school because it would be inconvenient (their words, not mine) to have the child in the office/backroom/etc. at work all day.

By the way, the parents who allow their children to suck their thumbs/fingers/clothes/every object they pick up as toddlers need to think for a moment: do you think your child will magically stop that behavior the moment they start school? Of course not! They will continue that, only once in school they are picking up the germs of a lot of other kids too! Children need to be taught from an early age how to be health-conscious.

 

As a single, working, professional mom I kind of resent what you are saying. When my daughter was in elementary/junior high/high school she had to go to school sick at times. I had no family around and had to balance her with work. If I had to fly out to Chicago to meet with bankers and my daughter got sick I made sure to balance and think through what sending her to school would do. Of course if it was her heart problem that was something I could justify, but a cold, flu, etc. usually meant she went to school. Sorry for the other kids and parents, but guess what, people catch colds and the flu when shopping, playing and so forth. It was the same for me when I was sick. If I had previously scheduled flights, meetings, priorities at work I made sure to show up.

I wish we lived in Utopia but we don't. People have obligations. Those obligations don't mean they will not stop everything for major health issues, but for goodness sakes....it's not easy to rearrange some schedules. If a child is throwing up, give them pepto. If they continue to throw up that's a different story, but not everybody has the luxury to wait several hours to see if the child is going to continue to throw up.

As for mental health days......you bet when my daughter was in high school I rewarded her good grades, good behavior, good study habits with a mental health day every so often. She was old enough to appreciate it and stay on her own. By the way, this big ole' bad parent who did that has a daughter who had received enough college credits by the time she graduated from high school that she could graduate college early. She also works her way through college, even though she received scholarships, is on the Dean's List, seldoms misses her college classes and has applied to Graduate School.

Don't put down professionals or people who own businesses if you don't really know what's going on. You did lump everyone together several times and, I for one, don't appreciate it.

Sherry

 

As its apparent you don't work in pediatric medicine like I do, lets get a little education as to why toddler's put things in their mouths. It is human nature for toddlers to put things in their mouths as this is natures way of introducing the immune system to the environment to build that immune system up. So, if you've ever wondered why toddlers do this so often, now you know, its called being a little human. The sucking of the thumb or fingers is also the way some children use as a method to sooth themselves when stressed out etc. and no they should not be expected to just stop that nurturing behavior the moment they start school, it will be a gradual thing for most kids, for heaven sakes they are in my opinion still trying to adapt to the change from toddler to big kid and for some it takes longer. Children get more exposure to germs through their environment such as the grocery store, Walmart and the mall. Just maybe, if you're in the education profession, you should think about a career change, heaven help you if these are the worst of your problems.

 

I agree. My daughter was seven months old when I adopted her from a Ukrainian orphanage. She sucked her thumb all the way through elementary school. It was the least of my worries with her, she had to have two eye surgeries, has a heart condition and a few minor problems. She was born with crossed-eyes, pneumonia, premature, could not move her leg muscles and a heart problem. I had much bigger fish to fry than worrying one little bit about her sucking her thumb.

Sherry

 

Thank you for your post. I had to sit on my hands last night to not respond to the OP. :cheers:


Unfortunately, some folks don't have friends or family to rely on in the area in case of emergency and once in while, people have to balance being able to keep food on the table vs sending a kid to school with the sniffles. Thank God my DH works from home, because if he didn't, heaven knows how we would have gotten through the normal childhood illnesses requiring us to keep him home.

 

It definitely stinks to have to rearrange your schedule for a sick kid. It also stinks to infect an entire class with an illness, then just pass it around for a month or so. Don't jump to conclusions, I do understand both sides. I also understand that principals are not very understanding when the teacher gets sick and has to miss work due to many reasons, esp the stupid new policy regarding only subbing for 3 days consecutively. It's nearly impossible to fill all of the empty spots in a school some days. But I have to add, I knew that if hubby and I decided to have children, this was one of the things we would have issues with because we both have to work. We definitely planned ahead...I have no kids for several reasons, that being one of them. I will add though, there is nothing more pitiful than a sick little one. :cry:

 

Oh gosh, I agree. I have seen some sick kids at school. Ones that were out for a day or two and then dosed up with tylenol and spent the rest of the week laying their head down on their desk, not playing at recess, fever coming back by lunchtime and asking to go to the office to call a parent who does not answer the phone. It breaks my heart.

Not to turn this political, but we can thank Obamacare for the new sub rules. JCPS cannot afford to insure substitute teachers. The new sub system is set up to monitor that, which is also why you don't get the sub you want - you get some cranky old retiree or an inexperienced newbie, neither of whom should ever step foot in a classroom regardless of their credentials.

 

Nothing more pitiful than a little one sitting in class that just wants his/her mommy b/c he/she is sick.

This issue with subs makes me wanna SCREAM! We have some of the best Substitute teachers that I have ever seen! Well, we can't get them very often now because of this new policy...our kids get stuck with a warm body. smh!

 

One would hope the school system could verify whether subs have their own health insurance through a spouse's policy and move on. Many subs I know are insured - it's a win-win. Maybe this issue can be rectified, proof of insurance should open the sub window. As it has been explained to me as a sub, the three day rule is not in effect this year - it was postponed until the next school year. Wouldn't it be great to have the insurance rule ironed out by then?