My worst year was PK3. Kid caught everything, things I barely knew about, like "hand foot and mouth." Anything viral, he got it. He had been in day care since he was a baby but day care probably had fewer contacts or better sanitation. Kid was sick so much in public PK3, I ran out of all of my leave and was exhausted and stressed. I ended up resigning my job. Then pandemic. Through K and 1, child has almost never been sick. Only one I can think of was covid, which he had in K with zero symptoms.

My first kid brought home the worst germs during her K year. She missed a ton of school due to fevers and really bad coughs. It was pre-Covid. My DH and I caught many of her germs. The second kid seemed to have extra immunity due to exposure to her sister. Plus, she had a mostly virtual kindergarten year. The kids still get sick, but it doesn’t feel constant. 4th and 2nd grades now…

2 boys -- K & 2nd grade. So far this year they've both been sick on and off, but thankfully the illnesses have all been mild so far. And a K kid with a stuffy nose is just so much easier than a 2 year old with a stuffy nose than the minor colds just don't even register with me anymore as a *thing*

My kids (3) all got sick the most in preschool and kindergarten (did not do daycare- these were their first years in a group setting).

After that, it really tapered off. However, there seemed to be “good years” and “bad years”, with no rhyme or reason that I can recall. One year they would miss maybe 1-2 days of school for illness- barely sick at all, then the next year the opposite extreme- missing up to 2 weeks.

Anonymous wrote:My K and 2nd graders have been sick more in the last 6 weeks than they were when they were in daycare, which they started at 3 months old. Colds, Covid, tummy bugs.

FWIW, daycare never required masks on kids and my oldest stopped wearing a mask when FCPS went optional. It's truly insane right now.

Same, and I attribute it to all the great handwashing & sanitizing at child care. I went to the Thanksgiving lunch for my first grader and watched the whole line of kids march straight in from the playground and right through the lunch line without so much as a drop of sanitizer. Ew.

Anonymous wrote:My K and 2nd graders have been sick more in the last 6 weeks than they were when they were in daycare, which they started at 3 months old. Colds, Covid, tummy bugs.

FWIW, daycare never required masks on kids and my oldest stopped wearing a mask when FCPS went optional. It's truly insane right now.

Same with my 2nd grader and 6th (!) grader. In particular, 6th grader would only get sick about once a year the past few years (since like 1st or 2nd grade), but he's had one vomiting big and 2 separate high fever illnesses this school year already (one of which transformed into an ear infection). Tested negative for the usual things Maybe there are also new middle school germs (on top of everything else)? Dunno.

When they are old enough to wash their hands properly and not put fingers in their mouth touch the floor etc. There are over 200 viruses that can cause sub clinical infections getting a 10-20 a year isn’t enough to provide any daycare kid with immunity.

My K and 2nd graders have been sick more in the last 6 weeks than they were when they were in daycare, which they started at 3 months old. Colds, Covid, tummy bugs.

FWIW, daycare never required masks on kids and my oldest stopped wearing a mask when FCPS went optional. It's truly insane right now.

I think K is a little worse than usual this year because this is their first year going to school without masks being required. My kindergartner has missed multiple days of school due to illness on two separate occasions so far this year. The germs are just flying around that grade. My third grader has not been sick at all other than maybe mild sniffles. I don't really remember what the K year was like for him. It ended early thanks to COVID, but I don't think it was too bad. It seems like my kindergartner's immune system is getting the workout that my older son's system got in preschool. I think it will be better after this winter.