A plea: please stop sending your sick kids to school

[Anonymous]

It is so confusing why no one wants to be a teacher any more. So confusing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has tested negative for everything and still is coughing three weeks in; this is lifetime pattern for him due to asthma. How long should I keep him out of school?

You don't actually know everything.

Bullshit. He has SOMETHING, just not what he's been tested for. Thanks for passing whatever it is along to others.

NP, but he's not contagious 3 weeks later with asthma. That's just lingering inflammation. You'd be back by then even with COVID.

Look, I don't send my kids if they feel badly, but if they have a runny nose with clear snot and are at normal energy levels, then they go. They've missed so much school that there's no way they're staying home for days at a time for the sniffles. I think it's a great idea to encourage masking for those kids, and I think the teachers at our school already do that.

Same. I send my kids to the doc, do the tests, take the antibiotics when prescribed, i am a responsible parent. But if my kid has no fever but still have a runny nose and a cough after a week home but is feeling perfectly fine otherwise, he/she is going back to school. A runny nose and lingering cough is not a good reason to stay out of school. If it were, kids would miss an inordinate amount of school days. We learnt from covid school closures how big of a mistake that was.

Plus, i do believe in the value of kids being exposed to basic viruses. This is the right time for their immunite system to be exposed to a variety of them. it protects them for the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and I have to strongly disagree with you. Kids stay home for everything now. Kids are kids and everything hurts them too. Unless a fever or the child is visibility uncomfortable, they can power through. They can put their head on the desk if needed, have personal tissues, drink plenty of water. A cough that lasts for weeks does not mean they should stay home. Yes, I am a teacher and get sick too but guess what? That is what sick leave is for and it’s just part of the job.

Thanks teacher! Words of wisdom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has tested negative for everything and still is coughing three weeks in; this is lifetime pattern for him due to asthma. How long should I keep him out of school?

You don't actually know everything.

Bullshit. He has SOMETHING, just not what he's been tested for. Thanks for passing whatever it is along to others.

NP. Sorry, I’m not keeping my kid home for three weeks for a lingering cough you psycho.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and I have to strongly disagree with you. Kids stay home for everything now. Kids are kids and everything hurts them too. Unless a fever or the child is visibility uncomfortable, they can power through. They can put their head on the desk if needed, have personal tissues, drink plenty of water. A cough that lasts for weeks does not mean they should stay home. Yes, I am a teacher and get sick too but guess what? That is what sick leave is for and it’s just part of the job.

Have you ever considered the impact on others. Sure, its no big deal to you but a cold lasts several weeks for me. It sucks I have to keep my kids virtual because of people like you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has tested negative for everything and still is coughing three weeks in; this is lifetime pattern for him due to asthma. How long should I keep him out of school?

You don't actually know everything.

Bullshit. He has SOMETHING, just not what he's been tested for. Thanks for passing whatever it is along to others.

NP. Sorry, I’m not keeping my kid home for three weeks for a lingering cough you psycho.

We're not saying to keep your kid home for 3 weeks. But 3 days. That's doable. There are so many parents who send their poor suffering kids to school when they're clearly ill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Couple things:

(1) I keep my kid home when they are very unwell. But by Day 4/5 I have to start looking at how they can go back. For me, for them. The school is also harassing me by that point, btw, even if I've explained they are sick. I may send them back while they are still coughing a lot or with a suspected ear infection (that we are treating) because they are not contagious (per doctor) and are feeling well enough that they are bouncing off the walls at home. If all you hear/see is the cough or my kid saying their ear hurts, you might assume I'm just packing them off to school without a thought. But I've actually kept them home through the actual illness and you are just seeing some lingering symptoms that might take weeks to resolve. I cannot keep my child home for weeks.

(2) For younger kids (under age 7/8) keeping them home is a massive burden. I've done it all this fall -- used my own sick leave, WFH while caring for a sick kid, hired someone to watch my sick kid. It's hard. A major reason I'm sending my kid to school with that lingering (but yes, hacking) cough is to make it possible for me to finagle one of these solutions the next time the are sick enough to need to stay home. These kids require full-time supervision, especially when sick. I have to send them to school when they are well enough to realistically get through the day without infecting others or being miserable. Even if they aren't technically 100%.

(3) You know full well that after a certain amount of missed school, the kids regress academically. You've seen it, I've seen it. We're already coming off major regressions due to Covid closures. There comes a point in keeping your kid home where they are clearly not in need of more rest and you start to worry they are falling behind. Some of us send our kids back to school because we are worried about the consequences of keeping them home until there is no trace of illness left. Is that worth my kid missing an entire unit of math or ELA? I don't think it is, especially when the worst is over in the first week.

Why have kids if it is such a burden. You can get workbooks and the curriculum and work with them at home. I never worry about what my kids missed in elementary school as we always supplemented and we'd make sure they were on target.

[Anonymous]

Cope harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look I get it, you need to work. So does everyone else. The system is strained with RSV, flu, strep, and covid. Schools have so many staff members and teachers out - they're not invincible. Your kid doesn't just have a little sniffles and it's not allergies - they're hacking their lungs out, have green snot falling from their nostrils, your write angry emails when we send them to the nurse, and your kids are suffering when you send them to school. They complain their throat hurts, ear hurts, and you keep sending them back when they're still sick (and contagious). You gotta let them heal completely.

You gotta break the cycle. We all have to do it. It sucks, but keep your sick kids home from school. Their chin strap of a mask doesn't do jack shit. You gotta keep them home. Please. I beg you.

The bolded is where you are going to get the most pushback, even from parents who are very conscientious about keeping sick kids at home. The stuff that's circulating now? Kids don't "heal completely" FOR WEEKS.

OP, be specific -- are you asking parents to keep children home for 10-15 days, maybe even as much as a month, until the are 100% better, before returning to school? What are you actually asking?

Also, this is a collective action problem too. Last year I kept my kid home a ton because between Covid and just heightened fears around illness, I didn't want her at school with a cough or runny nose even if they were just residual symptoms of something I didn't believe to be contagious. I really didn't want to get anyone sick. Guess what would happen every time I finally sent her back? She'd get sick almost immediately because no one else was keeping their kid home like I was.

Keeping your kid home for everything don'ts actually "break the cycle" of contagious because no one else does it. Everyone still gets sick (including your kid), it's just that they are all in class while your kid is missing tons of school. It winds up burdening just the parents who are trying to be responsible.

So this year I'm sending her back in sooner and just accepting she'll be sniffly/coughing at school a bit. She's already missed 10+ days this year, are you really suggesting I should have kept her home more than that because of that cough she had that lingered for weeks and weeks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has tested negative for everything and still is coughing three weeks in; this is lifetime pattern for him due to asthma. How long should I keep him out of school?

You don't actually know everything.

Bullshit. He has SOMETHING, just not what he's been tested for. Thanks for passing whatever it is along to others.

NP. Sorry, I’m not keeping my kid home for three weeks for a lingering cough you psycho.

We're not saying to keep your kid home for 3 weeks. But 3 days. That's doable. There are so many parents who send their poor suffering kids to school when they're clearly ill.

But I keep my kid home for 3/4/5 days every time she's sick. She still winds up attending school with a cough or runny nose sometimes because you don't recover from most of these respiratory viruses in 3-5 days.

I am all for people keeping sick kids home, but also: teachers and parents need to reacclimatize to the idea that kids are going to be at school with symptoms sometimes. It's cold and flu season. It's just the way it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and I have to strongly disagree with you. Kids stay home for everything now. Kids are kids and everything hurts them too. Unless a fever or the child is visibility uncomfortable, they can power through. They can put their head on the desk if needed, have personal tissues, drink plenty of water. A cough that lasts for weeks does not mean they should stay home. Yes, I am a teacher and get sick too but guess what? That is what sick leave is for and it’s just part of the job.

Have you ever considered the impact on others. Sure, its no big deal to you but a cold lasts several weeks for me. It sucks I have to keep my kids virtual because of people like you.

Colds last several weeks for EVERYONE. That's what a cold is. That's the problem. People cannot realistically keep kids home for weeks at a time. They can keep them home for 3-4 days, if they are lucky, before they HAVE to get back to work and their kid needs to get back to school.

If this is why you kids are virtual, that's on you, not us. You cannot expect people to keep children home for 10-15 days every time they get a head cold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is so confusing why no one wants to be a teacher any more. So confusing!

Truly a mystery!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look I get it, you need to work. So does everyone else. The system is strained with RSV, flu, strep, and covid. Schools have so many staff members and teachers out - they're not invincible. Your kid doesn't just have a little sniffles and it's not allergies - they're hacking their lungs out, have green snot falling from their nostrils, your write angry emails when we send them to the nurse, and your kids are suffering when you send them to school. They complain their throat hurts, ear hurts, and you keep sending them back when they're still sick (and contagious). You gotta let them heal completely.

You gotta break the cycle. We all have to do it. It sucks, but keep your sick kids home from school. Their chin strap of a mask doesn't do jack shit. You gotta keep them home. Please. I beg you.

The bolded is where you are going to get the most pushback, even from parents who are very conscientious about keeping sick kids at home. The stuff that's circulating now? Kids don't "heal completely" FOR WEEKS.

OP, be specific -- are you asking parents to keep children home for 10-15 days, maybe even as much as a month, until the are 100% better, before returning to school? What are you actually asking?

Also, this is a collective action problem too. Last year I kept my kid home a ton because between Covid and just heightened fears around illness, I didn't want her at school with a cough or runny nose even if they were just residual symptoms of something I didn't believe to be contagious. I really didn't want to get anyone sick. Guess what would happen every time I finally sent her back? She'd get sick almost immediately because no one else was keeping their kid home like I was.

Keeping your kid home for everything don'ts actually "break the cycle" of contagious because no one else does it. Everyone still gets sick (including your kid), it's just that they are all in class while your kid is missing tons of school. It winds up burdening just the parents who are trying to be responsible.

So this year I'm sending her back in sooner and just accepting she'll be sniffly/coughing at school a bit. She's already missed 10+ days this year, are you really suggesting I should have kept her home more than that because of that cough she had that lingered for weeks and weeks?

Agree. We’ve had numerous threads on this and while most posters agree that keeping your child home while they feel miserable for a couple days makes sense, it is too big an ask to have kids out for weeks when they feel fine but have a lingering cough or runny nose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look I get it, you need to work. So does everyone else. The system is strained with RSV, flu, strep, and covid. Schools have so many staff members and teachers out - they're not invincible. Your kid doesn't just have a little sniffles and it's not allergies - they're hacking their lungs out, have green snot falling from their nostrils, your write angry emails when we send them to the nurse, and your kids are suffering when you send them to school. They complain their throat hurts, ear hurts, and you keep sending them back when they're still sick (and contagious). You gotta let them heal completely.

You gotta break the cycle. We all have to do it. It sucks, but keep your sick kids home from school. Their chin strap of a mask doesn't do jack shit. You gotta keep them home. Please. I beg you.

The bolded is where you are going to get the most pushback, even from parents who are very conscientious about keeping sick kids at home. The stuff that's circulating now? Kids don't "heal completely" FOR WEEKS.

OP, be specific -- are you asking parents to keep children home for 10-15 days, maybe even as much as a month, until the are 100% better, before returning to school? What are you actually asking?

Also, this is a collective action problem too. Last year I kept my kid home a ton because between Covid and just heightened fears around illness, I didn't want her at school with a cough or runny nose even if they were just residual symptoms of something I didn't believe to be contagious. I really didn't want to get anyone sick. Guess what would happen every time I finally sent her back? She'd get sick almost immediately because no one else was keeping their kid home like I was.

Keeping your kid home for everything don'ts actually "break the cycle" of contagious because no one else does it. Everyone still gets sick (including your kid), it's just that they are all in class while your kid is missing tons of school. It winds up burdening just the parents who are trying to be responsible.

So this year I'm sending her back in sooner and just accepting she'll be sniffly/coughing at school a bit. She's already missed 10+ days this year, are you really suggesting I should have kept her home more than that because of that cough she had that lingered for weeks and weeks?

I'm saying keep them home until they're obviously on a road to recovery. Because what my colleagues and I are seeing, are the SAME kids who are sick--and definitely sick. Parents yell at the nurse or teachers when they pick them up. Kid shows up to school the next day. Misses one. Comes in for 2-3. Misses another. Comes in for 3-4. Misses 1-2. It's very, very evident to us that it's a 1-step forward 1-step back situation. I KNOW it's hard to stay home from work for 3-4 days in a row to really give your child a chance to rest and recover, but this yo-yo-ing is not good for anyone, least of all your kid. No one's saying to keep your kid out for weeks because of a cold, but dear god give them a few continuous days to recover (without being at the peak of being contagious) so the cycle can slow down at least.

[Anonymous]

I feel like 2 main things are contributing to posts like this.

1. People have "missed" getting illnesses from prior years, so they're "catching up". This results in more illnesses
2. People have major health anxiety around kids getting sick that didn't exist before at the same levels

We've had colds every other week since going back to school. My kids haven't developed any fevers or other symptoms besides colds & lingering coughs.

I always keep them home on day 1 in case it's developing into something worse. But when it doesn't, I definitely send them.

I'm sorry for the people who have high anxiety about health. Life must be terrible for them right now.