Reply to A plea: please stop sending your sick kids to school

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[quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

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