If you have kids in school....

jettagurl · December 2011

What is your sick policy? And I mean your rules, not the schools.

When do let your child stay home? Do you pick them up anytime the school calls (just to let you know they came to the nurse/if they give you an option).

Ben has stayed home 2 days this year, and I've been called 2 days to come get him, including today.

He had no complaints this morning. He was a little sluggish compared to normal, but otherwise fine. Then I get a call about 10:45 to come get him, that they think he's on the verge of being really sick. He didn't have a fever, no vomiting/diarrhea, no lightheaded-ness, nothing that would really warrant him coming home.

I don't want to be the hardass mom, but I think when he feels even the slightest big sick, his mind goes crazy with the what-ifs and he worries himself sick. I picked him up, we stopped to get some crackers/soup, came home. In the car he was telling me stories, reading to the twins, etc. While I was fixing lunch he actually got in trouble for jumping/falling (playing around - being crazy). After eating, I sent him to bed with a couple books. He ended up sleeping, and now, still acts totally normal.

I had a talk with him about how he had to be at school to learn. That if he comes home every time he's a 'little bit' sick (how he described it to me), that he would fall behind in his work and wouldn't learn new sight words and on this computer reading thing they have. I told him something Mommy and Daddy don't feel great, but Daddy still has to go to work and mommy still has to run kids around and take care of things....that he has to just stick it out at school those days.

Thoughts or advice on how to deal with this?

shouldbworkin · December 2011

They're usually pretty good about letting kids call to talk to mom if they say they don't feel good, but letting them stay if they check out ok otherwise. When I get a call to pick him up it's usually b/c he's warm. Two times this year he vomited from meds he was taking at school and had to go home b/c they couldn't let him stay. As far as staying home, I let him stay home if he has a fever or if he has a fresh cold that is making him miserable. While I would still go to work with a fresh cold, I can control my germs better than he can. I also think he'll get over it faster if I just keep him home the first day.

DandelionMom · December 2011

I always pick the kids up if the office calls. The kids are doing fine in school and they don't have a crazy number of sick days so I'm really not worried about it. DD2 has called home twice this year when I don't think she was really sick -- we had a little talk about needing to see the doctor if she keeps having these sick days and she hasn't done it since.

Carol*Brady2 · December 2011

My kid is going to school unless they are puking, the runs or have a fever. They like school so they never want to stay home with a cold or minor ailment. I don't think I've ever been called to pick either up in 4 yrs of daily school.

MommyofAlissa · December 2011

If she is very obviously sick (fever, vomiting, etc) then she stays home, no questions asked. But if she gets up and says "I don't feeeeeeeel good" (she does this often, so I have the problem w/ feeling like a hardass too) I usually tell her to go to school and give it a try, and if she continues to feel sick, then she can go to the nurse and I will come get her. I think that what happens is, she isn't really all that sick, and doesn't want to go to the nurse just to have the nurse tell her that. I guess I'd assume if the nurse is calling, then she thinks he is sick enough to go home.

jettagurl · December 2011

Ya know, now that I think about it, both times I've been called is when the nurse was preoccupied, and I was called by another office worker. One day the nurse was busy with a teacher that had fallen, and today she was doing vision screenings. So I wonder if this is them not realizing he's not all that sick, or the fact that they didn't want to babysit him in the clinic area for 15 min or so.

Hmmmm. I think I will email the nurse to see what her guidelines are.

lildevil968 · December 2011

I used to pick DD everytime the school would call about her being sick, and then I caught onto her game. She would go to the nurses office, and complain about her stomach hurting everytime someone hurt her feelings, and I would pick her up, and she would be fine. Now I don't pick her up unless she is running a fever, vomiting, has diarrhea, or a broken bone.

surprise3rd · December 2011

Mine has never asked to stay home, I have had to tell him his is too sick to go to school...strep...and he was bummed, but was obviously sick. He was sent home one day last year by the nurse with a fever on a friday and was back on monday.

DandRAgain · December 2011

My kids don't like staying home because its NOT fun....if they "feel" too sick to go to school, they do not get to do a thing at home...they spend the day laying on the couch or their bed, and if they are lucky, they get a TV show or two....otherwise they can occupy their time with books.

If they have a fever, are vomitting, or have actual symptoms, they don't want to do much anyways....

And the school nurse never calls unless there are symptoms and a need to come home.

ghm · December 2011

If it's going to interfere with his ability to function, he stays home. He's missed six days this year. I don't like that, but we've been really sick. I'm not worried about him falling behind, but there are attendance policies and I don't want to set a precedence of missing for small things because he may not always be ahead of what they're learning. Except for once when we were all really sick, I havhim read to me and go over what the lessons are in class that day.

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