Anyone thinking about waiting a few days before sending their kid back to preschool?

[Anonymous]

My DD’s PT preschool starts up January 10. She’s been home since Thanksgiving break (there was an outbreak at the school and the government closed it for 5 weeks; we live in Europe). Even though it’s been a verrrry long break I’m planning on sending her back. I have thought about keeping her out an extra week but am not sure.

My work is flexible and I work from home, so I could juggle it for another week, just not dying to do it, and she really needs the learning and socializing in that environment. I am also 100% certain her school will be closing again, likely multiple times, this semester so part of me thinks it’s best she goes while she can. But ... it’s tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a preschool teacher and if I were you I would keep my child home next week. The logistics of this are going to be a nightmare. People will absolutely send sick kids to school. It’s so contagious that we won’t be able to prevent your kid from getting it. Which means you get it. Which means traveling around for tests. The longer we can delay getting it the better.

Thanks for posting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not. My kid loves school. I don’t make up my own rules with regards to COVID. My daycare follows the CDC rules.

Daycare is different than preschool in this context. My kid loves preschool too but I love him healthy! And since I don’t used preschool for childcare, it’s an affordable precaution.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes we are keeping home for a week or maybe two to let the holiday-induced Covid cases burn out. I would love if our preschool decided to go virtual!

Your 3-4 year old isn’t going to get anything out of virtual school. You just have (by proxy) FOMO so would rather screw over the families that actually need childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I think we’re going to keep DC out of preschool for the first week. I have a very light work load (work from home) and we have a nanny for our preschooler and baby. It’s a luxury to be able to do this. I know a lot of daycare-dependent parents who don’t have this option.

Same conclusion in exactly the same situation. Plus nanny has been gone all this week and really wants to spend some time with both kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes we are keeping home for a week or maybe two to let the holiday-induced Covid cases burn out. I would love if our preschool decided to go virtual!

Your 3-4 year old isn’t going to get anything out of virtual school. You just have (by proxy) FOMO so would rather screw over the families that actually need childcare.

DP here. I honestly think people are talking about traditional preschool (3-5 hours) with out the need for childcare - not daycare. We all understand daycare parents don’t have the options we do. No one is trying to screw anyone.

[Anonymous]

Struggling with this decision now. Was leaning towards sending my son on Monday but now thinking I should keep him home. Argh!!

Very worried about long term unknown consequences - particularly brain damage TBD where there is some evidence this is happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes we are keeping home for a week or maybe two to let the holiday-induced Covid cases burn out. I would love if our preschool decided to go virtual!

Your 3-4 year old isn’t going to get anything out of virtual school. You just have (by proxy) FOMO so would rather screw over the families that actually need childcare.

Everybody at my $$$ preschool has either a nanny or SAHP so nobody “needs” the childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Struggling with this decision now. Was leaning towards sending my son on Monday but now thinking I should keep him home. Argh!!

Very worried about long term unknown consequences - particularly brain damage TBD where there is some evidence this is happening.

Where did you hear about reports of brain damage in little kids, PP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Struggling with this decision now. Was leaning towards sending my son on Monday but now thinking I should keep him home. Argh!!

Very worried about long term unknown consequences - particularly brain damage TBD where there is some evidence this is happening.

Where did you hear about reports of brain damage in little kids, PP?

A few links and posts scattered in this thread: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1025242.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Struggling with this decision now. Was leaning towards sending my son on Monday but now thinking I should keep him home. Argh!!

Very worried about long term unknown consequences - particularly brain damage TBD where there is some evidence this is happening.

I hate to break it to you, but getting COVID is going to be unavoidable. You can avoid it in the short term, maybe. But not in the medium term or long term unless you 100% shelter in place. We are all getting it multiple times over our lives. I’d avoid getting it now if possible because it’s such a big surge on the system. But not getting COVID is now a pipe dream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Struggling with this decision now. Was leaning towards sending my son on Monday but now thinking I should keep him home. Argh!!

Very worried about long term unknown consequences - particularly brain damage TBD where there is some evidence this is happening.

I hate to break it to you, but getting COVID is going to be unavoidable. You can avoid it in the short term, maybe. But not in the medium term or long term unless you 100% shelter in place. We are all getting it multiple times over our lives. I’d avoid getting it now if possible because it’s such a big surge on the system. But not getting COVID is now a pipe dream.

NP So? Wanting to delay the COVID+ until after vaccination is a reasonable goal. Or wanting to delay it as long as possible if you have a newborn in the home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Struggling with this decision now. Was leaning towards sending my son on Monday but now thinking I should keep him home. Argh!!

Very worried about long term unknown consequences - particularly brain damage TBD where there is some evidence this is happening.

I hate to break it to you, but getting COVID is going to be unavoidable. You can avoid it in the short term, maybe. But not in the medium term or long term unless you 100% shelter in place. We are all getting it multiple times over our lives. I’d avoid getting it now if possible because it’s such a big surge on the system. But not getting COVID is now a pipe dream.

NP So? Wanting to delay the COVID+ until after vaccination is a reasonable goal. Or wanting to delay it as long as possible if you have a newborn in the home.

Obviously avoiding it for as long as possible until vaccination IS my goal as the mother of a DD 2 who cannot be vaccinated. But the earliest she may be vaccinated is maybe midway through this year, likely later… unfortunately I don’t think a lockdown of our family for 6 months+ Required for such a contagious variant is sustainable. We send them to a school that is amazing at COVID precautions including masking, required vaccination, predominantly outdoors, well ventilated classrooms. But there have still been a couple cases of Delta. And we still sent them given the risk. I was mostly commenting about the brain stuff—vaccination won’t protect your child from getting a mild case of COVID which any case of Covid could lead to issues, vaccinated or not, vaccinations help reduce risk but don’t eliminate it. So unfortunately, if that’s what your worried about, that’s going to be really tough. And I totally agree the calculus may be different during a surge if you have a newborn—the decisions I make about my 2 and 5 year old are very different than the decisions I’d make if it was 3 and 0. I’d probably not send the 3 year old until the surge passed because a sick newborn with any fever is really dangerous and hospitals are already strained. My point is—all of this sucks to navigate. And I’m sending my kids in tomorrow if school is even open. That’s me though.

[Anonymous]

With flight cancellations and the like I think many kids who traveled may also be returning a week late, so I wouldn't assume it all flames out next week. We also know a lot of people who took longer trips this season because they were reuniting with family and allowing extra time to isolate beforehand, or just to visit, etc. But I still see the logic in keeping home.

[Anonymous]

Both kids are going back this week. After two rounds of close contact, 10 day quarantines last year (luckily we were all negative) I don’t want to burn through leave I might need.