Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I must be a weirdo but my kids have never had just the “sniffles”. When my kids get a cold it’s multiple days of severe congestion/lethargy/not sleeping. They never seem to have the “cold” that is “just the sniffles”.

Even for me, I almost never have that kind of illness-I’m
Not sure if I ever have honestly. For me a “cold” means I get a sore throat and it ususally culminates in a sinus infection and I usually feel like absolute garbage for at least 2-3 days, and then not great for a solid 10 days.

What is this illness that is just the “sniffles”? Is that really a cold? Or is what I describe a cold?

The sniffles are sometimes just from weather & dry air, other times from a cold. Also could be allergies. Lots of things.

Colds are not as you describe, for me or my kids. It’s a scratchy throat, runny nose, lingering cough sometimes. No one feels like garbage- more like a nuisance. A little extra sleep and rest is all we really do. May skip optional things to rest but rarely work/school.

IME it isn’t normal for a cold to make you feel like garbage but my definition may differ from others. To me feeling like garbage = flu caliber symptoms. Colds are just an annoyance.

I agree with the bolded. We don't stay home for 'just a cold' but also they aren't big deals, just nuisances. No major congestion, lethargy, sore throat, or fevers. We rarely take medicine for a cold, there's no need. Sometimes, however, a cough can linger for weeks, especially for my kid with mild asthma. No way am I keeping him home for weeks because he has a cough that started after 3 days of a runny nose (and no other symptoms). He feels fine.

20 hour work week

I remember that epic thread from last year!

Anyway, how things have changed. My preferred solution now is a flex time 20 hour work with federally guaranteed sick leave. Highly unlikely to ever happen but then again who would have predicted a Romney proposal for universal child allowance?

Anonymous wrote:Or, you know, your a parent who gets the health info sheet from school and follows it to the letter, which means sending a coughing, sniffly kid to school and keeping a feverish kid home. When you call in to say your kid is sick you get a "just remember, Mom, it's important for her to be in school. If you keep her home for every sniffle she'll miss too many days."

the info sheets are just CYA documents so that the school can say 'not our fault' if your kid gets another kid sick

Or, you know, your a parent who gets the health info sheet from school and follows it to the letter, which means sending a coughing, sniffly kid to school and keeping a feverish kid home. When you call in to say your kid is sick you get a "just remember, Mom, it's important for her to be in school. If you keep her home for every sniffle she'll miss too many days."

I work in the clinic.

Several scenarios at play here. Pick one.

- there's no adult supervision in the morning.

-student either arrives at school and immediately comes to the clinic to report not feeling well (or to vomit, use the bathroom, get temperature taken) or

- goes to classroom or first period and either asks to go to clinic or teacher sends immediately because "student doesn't look good"

- you gave student "pink medicine" (cherry Benadryl? Pepto?) or "purple medicine" (Dimetapp?) or "something" (ah, maybe Tylenol or Advil?) "in the morning" and wow, now it's 10 and the meds have worn off...but this has allowed you to put in a 1/2 day of work and get your kid to daycare and by the time I call you to come get your child, you won't have to lose a day of leave.

- you will complain once reached that "I'm at work and about an hour away" and no, there's no one else to call who could pick up (also, the emergency contact is a grandma in another time zone)

- you will ask if your child can "just be given some medicine" and sent back to class. (We don't have stock meds and if you want us to give your DC a medicine, this requires a completed form and meds delivered in advance)

- you must know that we have a protocol. 911 first, then you as a parent. If your DCs fever spikes and sustains at 104 (and yes, this has happened) EVEN WHILE AWAITING parent pick up, your child will be transported in an ambulance, likely without you.

-DC tells us everything, most especially while we wait for you to pick up...

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Anonymous wrote:I can honestly say that in 31 years of parenting five children I have never knowingly sent a child to school sick. Parents who do this are just the worst.

+1 I have four kids. But I also work from home.

The households where both parents work outside the home, who don't have family close by, and who have multiple kids are in an extremely tough position. Just with dentist appointments and well visits and other standard stuff I could have an appointment once a week. Add in sick kids, few weeks go by in the winter without interruptions. I have a flexible schedule but people who don't have to make complicated decisions.

But it was your choice to have four kids in a dual income household. You had them knowing what your responsibilities are. I had two coworkers going through chemo last year, with kids coming in sick because, “I have a meeting,” parents don’t realize the implications of their actions. You have a moral obligation to keep your sick children home and have a babysitter/family member care for them. The classroom is not a warehouse for sick students. When the nurse tries to send them back to class, I’m happy to let her know that the child is welcome to stay with her or sit in the front office for the remainder of the day.

No child should be excluded from school for a cold. End of story. And frankly, if you want to encourage families to keep their kids home, you should 1) advocate for more sick leave, 2) alter the school year so that working parents don't have to take off as many days simply to follow the school calendar, 3) make it easy for children to catch up or stay on track if they stay home sick, including stopping teachers from punishing or making things difficult for kids who miss time from school because they are sick.

There is no childcare for sick children. You can't send them to daycare or school. Period. As a parent, it is YOUR job to care for your child when they are sick. Exclusively. Period. It is the fault of YOUR boss and YOUR job if you can't take a sick day to care for your child. It is ridiculous to suggest we should have "school" (babysitting) available for 365 days a year to accommodate your employer. Do you know how much that would cost taxpayers? We are not a babysitting service, and we are certainly not an infirmary. As a teacher, I'm absolutely not responsible for advocating for your sick leave, nor would you advocate for teachers to get additional sick leave to account for all the illnesses we contract being exposed to your sick children. I already see threads here complaining every time their child's teacher calls out, as if it is any of their business why. In the past, I have reached out to let parents know I would be out on x day (as a courtesy, not a requirement), and had them ask me the reason for the absence. Totally inappropriate.

Obviously my point is not true during the pandemic, but you are uninformed and show that you don't understand that the need for children to receive an education outweighs your demand that you never be exposed to any germs. All public health guidance before the pandemic has been specific about criteria for excluding children from school, and that includes conditions like high fever, (101 or higher), vomiting, conjunctivitis, and flu with cough and fever. A cold or lingering cough or even a low grade fever does not require exclusion from school if the child is well enough to participate in activities.

Wrong. If your child is sick, they are contagious and need to stay home. I will never allow a student with a fever into my classroom, per school policy. It is incredibly selfish to suggest otherwise. Your child is coughing and has a fever? They’re going home. You can keep them home in the morning, or you can come collect them once we take one look at them and realize they are sick. The nurse will hand you a note saying they can’t come in the next day, because they won’t have been fever free for 24 hours at that point. Enjoy.

That may be true at the school where you work, but there's no point ranting at those of us who are given entirely different official guidelines from our kids' schools.

Exactly. Our school will automatically send home for fever 100.4+ or vomiting (you get a call saying to come pick child up immediately). Everything else-within reason-they will let kid rest a few minutes to evaluate & then call and ask parent what you want to do. I always pick my kids up in that scenario but not everyone does. A cough or “seeming sick” won’t get a kid sent home automatically unless there is a fever over 100.4

Forgot to add: at our school this decision is up to the nurse, not the teacher. Teacher doesn’t have discretion to send kids home. It’s up to the nurse.