Do you take your sick child to the park?

[Anonymous]

DD is in daycare and gets sick a lot - runny nose, coughs, fever, diarrhea sometimes. If it's the weekend or I am home, and she is feeling reasonably well, I take her to the playground. I wipe her nose and make sure she doesn't touch anyone else, but I don't keep her home.

My thinking is that the park is a public place and others who show up take that risk, so to speak. FWIW, I also let her play with the toys in the dr.s office when we go for sick visits. I don't begrudge other kids with runny noses, at the play ground or dr.s office, perhaps because with daycare, we've come to realize there is little you can do to keep them healthy at all times.. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Ditto. I let her play as long as she is well enough to do so.

[Anonymous]

We don't take our sick DD to the playground or let her play with toys in the doctor's office. We try to follow the Golden Rule - and you never know who might be immune compromised, or have a newborn sibling at home.

[Anonymous]

If she's vomiting or has bad diarrhea, no. Runny noses, fine.

[Anonymous]

If it's a cold, probably yes. The fresh air is good, and UV technically kills germs, right? I wouldn't encourage my kid to go touch other kids, but would let them run around. We had a cold almost constantly from December through February, so wouldn't have seen the sun if we were hidden away.

Fever and more, I guess it depends. We had a 12 hour mystery fever the other day, with no other symptoms. We tried to lay low, just in case, but we kept up most of our routine. Don't think we went outside as much. If there was more than that, we'd have stayed home for sure.

[Anonymous]

If your kid has a fever or diarrhea be considerate and keep your kid at home!!! A runny nose fine, but having them touch all the equipment that then my child and others touch, and knowingly expose a park full of children to germs is not nice. And just because it's outside the germs do not die instantly.

Not to mention, if your kid has a fever, do your own kid a favor and have them rest at home and get better. If you must take them out, take them for a walk where they are not touching the play equipment that other children are touching.

[Anonymous]

The elements (wind, rain, sun) do a good job at keeping the germs to a minimum so I don't mind the sick kid playing in the outdoor playground - and I do take my sick kiddo there.

Now, the toys in the doc's office? NO WAY I LET MY KIDDO TOUCH IT!!!!! Actually, we picked a doc's office with a sick/well room for this exact reason and they don't have toys or magazines/books in the waiting room.

My doc's office has toys and DC knows they're yucky.

[Anonymous]

Runny nose, yes. Anything more serious, no. Can go for walks without going to playground and being around other kids.

[Anonymous]

even when suffering from this?

ewwww

Anonymous wrote:DD is in daycare and gets sick a lot - runny nose, coughs, fever, diarrhea sometimes. If it's the weekend or I am home, and she is feeling reasonably well, I take her to the playground. I wipe her nose and make sure she doesn't touch anyone else, but I don't keep her home.

My thinking is that the park is a public place and others who show up take that risk, so to speak. FWIW, I also let her play with the toys in the dr.s office when we go for sick visits. I don't begrudge other kids with runny noses, at the play ground or dr.s office, perhaps because with daycare, we've come to realize there is little you can do to keep them healthy at all times.. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

NO, I would definitely keep our child home and NOT let him touch toys in public or at the doc's office if he were sick (actually I try to discourage that when he's well too bc I think of all the gross germs on them). I'd hate to get another child sick and I think of all the repercussions of having a sick kid, especially when they go to daycare/preschool and the parent can't easily stay home like I can. I also think of all those with infant siblings who could get SERIOUSLY sick of their toddler sib brought home something not even that terrible. I'm not a germaphobe (sp?) but I figure it's the least I can do to help stop the spread of illness. No one likes having a sick kid.

[Anonymous]

I take my sick kid to the park as long as she's feeling well enough to play.

Not sure why diarrhea is an issue? It's not like she's pooping on the swing.

[Anonymous]

This is why you're supposed to wash your hands when you get home from the park. If your kid has a cold, nothing wrong with going to the park. I can't imagine taking a kid with diarrhea to the park just because diapers don't necessarily hold that in so it seems like a bad idea. Ditto with vomiting. I don't know if my child would be up to playing if she had a high fever.

[Anonymous]

When my kid is sick, she doesn't want to do anything. She basically lays around and whines. I can tell she's starting to feel better when she accepts an invitation to take a short walk around the block. So, no, I don't take her to the park but that's because she would never, ever go and would hate it.

I don't have a big issue with sick kids at the park generally. Figure fresh air is probably good for them and we wash hands when we get home anyway.

[Anonymous]

Mild cold, perhaps. Pretty runny nose, no--gross. We go for walks but no playground out of respect for other families.

[Anonymous]

No, its rude as it can be contagious. I keep my kid home when sick. I don't want the germs passed from him touching something. That's not right to other kids and parents who could get sick and more importantly, those who have compromised systems that a small cold could blow up to something more serious.