Should I keep my child home from school?

I struggle with this one sometimes, but other times its straight forward. The difficulty for me is when my kids are feeling ok, but i'm not sure whether or not they would be contagious. Sometimes my son, for example, might be coughing, but otherwise feel fine. This can continue for days. And although the cold he has isnt effecting him a great deal, it could possibly effect another child more. But then again during winter, if every child with a cough stayed home the class would be half empty. I discussed it with his teacher and sought her opinion and she just said not to worry too much about it as all the kids attended with coughs anyhow.

Not too sure about mental health days, as my kids are too young for that. But i'd be interested to see others' views as well. Perhaps mental health days could help avoid days off sick.

As a parent of two school age boys and a pediatrician, I have a few criteria in addition to what you mentioned. Rashes and visible maladies like conjunctivitis or pink-eye, usually will generate a phone call from school officials to parents pretty quickly. I knew my first grader wasn't particularly contagious this past May when he broke out with a big case of Fifth's disease, but out of respect for any pregnant teachers(Fifth's disease is caused by ParvovirusB19 & can have implications for pregnant moms and their babies), I kept him home.

Vomiting and diarrhea are also a sure ticket for a day on the couch. While not visible to the casual observer, vomiting and diarrhea is really contagious.

I don't have a problem with 'mental health days" as long as they're used judiciously. So what does that mean? It depends on the tempermant of the child. Some children learn quickly to work their parents' systems – I would be pretty cautious about letting that child stay home with any regularity. Others benefit from an unscheduled breather once or twice a school year.

My kids have been sick since November. My oldest daughter is in pre-k. The cold and the stomach virus just keeps getting passed back and forth. I was told by my pediatrician that it is useless to keep her home with just a cold. In the meantime she keeps bringing stuff home, getting sick and passing it on to her younger sister and brother. This week alone I was at the doctor's twice. Those co-payments are adding up! And I am exhausted! I wish there was a better way to control it.

My rule of thumb for my 5 and 6 year old boys is easy:

If they ask to stay home, that means they need to stay home. They are still at that age that they LOVE school, and will go unless they really feel bad.

When they are older and perhaps don't like school so much, I plan to follow my mom's rule:

If my child wants to stay home for illness, he must stay in bed all day. This is very effective, as I learned the hard way! It's not fun to stay in bed if you're actually healthy, but it's exactly what you want if you're sick!

Also, I have never, in 6 years, measured my kids' temperatures (I have four children, the youngest is 18 months). A good long look into the eyes of my sick child is enough to tell me if he or she needs just a good night's rest and plenty of juice, or a visit to the doctor.

Some illnesses might cause just a slight raise in temperature (bacteria), but need treatment, while a short-lived sharp spike (virus) is not necessarily the worst in the world. The child might need more medical care with the former, yet if the parent goes by temperature alone, it might not be sought.

The contagious question is kind of silly. What percentage of parents do you suppose have the expertise to determine when a child is most contagious? I'll wager its fairly small.

To my knowledge, most diseases are most cantagious just *before* any symptoms appear. This is good for the organism causing the disease because it allows it to spread for readily. It's bad for us because there is really very little way to avoid getting sick occasionally.

My advice: Keep the kid home for as long as their temperature stays above 100 degrees. For viral illnesses this shouldn't take much more than 3 days. If the fever doesn't break by then or they get worse after the fourth day, its time to see the pediatrician because it may be bacterial or secondarily infected with bacteria.

And make sure life isn't exceedingly pleasant for the kids when they are at home, sick. If Mommy is waiting on you hand and foot, AND you get to watch TV all day, why go back to school?

My 6 year old grandaughter attends a school that places great emphasis on attendance. Prizes weekly for perfect attendance, etc.

In addition, her Mother was determined at the beginning of her kindergarten year that she was going to have perfect attendance. Also, Mom didn't want to miss any work to stay home and take care of her.

The result? The child was sent to school with a combination of strep and pneumonia. She was so sick by that afternoon that her Mom finally took her to a doctor.

What ever happened to common sense and maternal instinct?

My 8 yr old son missed 1 1/2 weeks of school in Jan becuase of a fever. Not a problem, he was sick. However, last Tuesday, the school called me at 10 am to come get him. He had no fever, no cough, no vomiting, nothing that would indicate that he was sick. Their reasoning? He just wasn't himself. Are you serious? They made it very clear that he was going home and I had no choice. He spent the day with me at work, playing and snacking. No fever, no sickness of any kid. In my opinion, the school is teaching him ways to get out of class. He's missed enough, teach him!

As a teacher, I really appreciate the parents who keep their sniffling, sneezing, puking kids home. They're miserable at school and let's face it, they're just not really great with hygeine. Therefore, the whole class gets infected. I disagree with the mental health day concept though. When kids miss my class, I have to go back and reteach them what they missed. I can't just leave it to chance. So now I'm teaching my regular class schedule, which is busy enough, and having to go back and make sure that make-up work is done and your child understands all the concepts he/she missed. That's hard enough when he or she is sick. When you take him or her just for a mental health day, you make my job harder. Makes me want to take one too. Now multiply that by 25 kids. How difficult does my job become?
I don't mind when they're sick but school is their job. You should be teaching them responsibility, not slacking off at the expense of overworking their teacher.

If your kid is sick- keep them home! I am dealing with this RIGHT NOW~ My 6 year old daughter will be staying home again tomorrow! Perfect attendance last quarter- now 3 days in a row because of a nasty virus! (that she got FROM SOMEONE AT SCHOOL!!!) Now my 4 year old & 1 ½ year old son are getting it too! Think of the other kids that you WILL be infecting by sending your sick kid to school-

I have a 15 month old son and i am worried about him
from the time he able to move he bops his head al the time and although he show no sign of being sick and acts like a 3 year old i am scared this might affect his mental state later in life. do you think i should take him to get a cat-scan before it's to late?

I do not send my children to school if they have a fever, body aches or chills they will stay home or I will leave work early and be home with them. As for mental health days I am a full believer in mental health days for kids, even one a year or as needed. A parent will often know when a child will need a break, often times school can be very over whelming or a child just needs time to rest and to think. As adults we take time for mental health or at least I hope we do, kids are no different and in this day and age have so many more goal oriented pressures to do well in school, be the best friend etc. Life is short take a break, and rest when sick, the world will keep on going, and the goal is health, happiness and getting educated.

Presenteeism is bad enough in adults, and it should never extend to children, but as a teacher, I can tell you that parents often send their children to school sick. Even if you think your own child "can take it" think about the 25 other children in the class.

I am now in my mid twenties, but my parents let me take the occasional mental health day in high school. Not to do things like papers or avoid tests, but once a semester or so they would call me in sick or let me go in late.

Also – I wish adults would stay home when they are sick. I am tired of sick co-workers dragging themselves to work and getting other people in the office sick. Having one of them out for 2 days is a whole lot better than having 4 of us out for 2 days so they could be in the office.

I'm at my wits end. I understand about keeping kids home for fevers, vomiting, etc. But what about headaches and body aches? My 10 year old daughter used to get migraines a couple of years ago. In the past few months her PC pediatrician thinks her current headaches are from sinusitis and has referred us to an ENT. My daughter gets headaches every day. Sometimes she calls wanting to come home from school. Lately, her headaches have been mixed with complaints of aches throughout her body. No fever over 100. Here's the catch... I have fibromyalgia and I ache every day even with medicine. I often come home from work and lay down for awhile because I'm so tired and hurt so badly. I understand aches and how no one can see that you're hurting, but you are. Even with aches you can do some activities that don't require a lot of energy like watch TV or get on the PC.
How do I know if she's really in pain, and is it enough to let her stay home? Has anyone else dealt with kids with headaches?
I think I will try the "you have to stay in bed, no TV" trick when she does come home though. Is that just during school hours or does it continue until bed time?

When your kid tells you they need to stay home. they NEED to stay home. im a freshman in highschool right now . and i know how horrible it is when your mom sends you to school feeling so crappy you can even see straight because she says evryone had to do things they dont want to do. so please for them letthem stay home!

As a physician and mother of two children in elementary school, I feel very strongly that children should stay home until they are all well- no fever for > 24 hs and with no upper respiratory infection symptoms or vomiting/ diarrhea or rashes. I also think it is important that the child feels well enough be at school and ready to learn. I think this is for the benefit of all the children and the teacher, who catches everything that comes around and then is in the awkward position of having to send the child home. Besides, life is too short and young children just shouldn't feel the pressure of 100% attendance. There will be plenty of time to learn about responsibility and punctuality later on. Personally, I keep my kids home any chance I get- yes, some might call them mental health days and they are good for the mind, sould and for family ties. I do, however, make sure that my kids stay on top of any school work or instruction that they missed. Also, I recognize that for many families, it is a big financial strain to have their children miss school repeatedly. Maybe schools need to have an infirmiary of sorts.... Nurse supervised area where kids can be at school yet be separated from the class and given opportunity to complete homework assignments ... just a thought.

as a high school student I can say that there isnothing more annoying then a sniffly person beside you, blowing their nose whilst you are trying to do a test. I think that if you are sick, then please, for the rest of us, stay home!
As for mental health days, they are important. Being mentally "unwell" ( over tired, overwhelmed, etc) is just as bad as being physically unwell. Teachers may say it makes the work harder on them i we stay home once a semester, but if we go to school not feeling well, it's even harder because we get fidgety, can't concentrate, fall asleep etc. and we have to learn it all over again anyways!
It shouldn't be a habit, but highschool is hard enough! Just take a day off.

When I was younger, i would get massive headaches every day...(I did learn to deal with them) as well as massive ear infections. I now currently deal with miagraines and also have issues with my sight. Today I have two children on of whom is in kindergarten until june...He has been sick and so has his entire class at the same time during the winter. So I took him out for a week, then when he was better with just a slight cough, I sent him back then he got sick again...and yes I also hold for mental health days and am now just figuring on what my options are for home schooling...But I do agree mental health days are needed, and definatly keep the kiddos at home when sick.

Well I have a daughter named Allie and I know she doesn't feel well today, but I'm not sure if i should let her stay home today. She already didnt go to school yesterday and it's early in the school year. She always looks very pretty in the mornings but today she looks ill, what should I do?

Thanks to reading these comments I decided what I should do with My daughter! Shes gonna stay home with me today and rest. Thanks guys!

I see a lot of people complaining about sick co-workers in this thread. I agree with you in part. However we should all realize that in many cases, whether you are sick or you have to stay home with a sick child, missing work may cost you your job. Sure you have so many sick and leave days (unless you're a new employee), but even using those can give you a bad review. Missing more than your allotted time can really put you in jepoardy. It's almost a catch-22; the boss wants you to be there, but the boss and your co-workers want you to stay home when sick. And like the article above says, if you don't work, you don't get paid. But what if you get fired on top of that?

Another though/question: Isn't someone contagious before actually showing many symptoms?

As for mental health days, I support them to an extent. One way to circumvent them is to take it easy on the weekend. Don't fill the weekends with tons of activities and chores. Limit the afternoon/evening activities during the week too. Some kids (and parents) can't go-go-go like other people. And we shouldn't feel guilty or make others feel guilty for not doing as much as they do.

I can't stay home from school when I'm sick. If I miss more than four days of school, I don't recieve credit for my classes despite the fact that my dad and mom are doctors and capable of writing excuse notes. Why should I care about my peers' health? With these damn attendance policies I can't even take care of myself.

There are so many opinions and all the answers, including those of the medical professionals on here (of which I am one as well), need can be based on some well known guidelines. The CDC has a great website full of information and surprisingly, even the physicians speaking up haven't mentioned it.

One of the simplest rules – your child should be considered contagious and not return to school until they are temperature free for 24 hours... without the need of an antipyretic (Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen). For issues not involving an elevated temperature, if the illness interferes with their normal activity, or that activity makes symptoms worse, they should stay home and rest. Nobody seems to mention the fact that your child could feel better later in the morning and go to school, but late. As the parents of an asthmatic child, we struggle frequently with decisions regarding sending her to school and many times she needs a little extra time to let either medications take effect or for us to differentiate between her asthma versus possibly another ailment. Luckily, she is bright and has great grades, so she never struggles catching up. If you do have a sick child, cut them a break, let them rest and remember they will need some extra time and help getting their schoolwork caught up when they go back.