One of the hardest decisions to make as a parent is whether to keep your child home from school when he is sick. The line between not that sick and too sick is hard to draw, particularly when juggling childcare and work demands at the same time.
If your child is coughing or wheezing, he will spread his illness to other children and probably will not be rested enough to learn anyway, if he had trouble getting to sleep due to coughing/wheezing fits.
A child with a fever at or above 101º Fahrenheit should not go to school, even if there aren’t any other symptoms. If he does, you will probably end up picking him up from school early in the afternoon anyway, even if you dose him with medicine before school. Feverish children really need to rest until they have had at least one fever-free day before returning to school.
If he has a rash, he should see a doctor to determine whether it is infectious before he goes to school again. A rash that is too itchy will probably distract both him and his classmates from learning, anyway.
Children with ear infections can sometimes go to school, but if he has incredible pain along with the infection, he should obviously stay home.
Stomachaches are another common problem kids suffer from, and there’s a quick solution to see if your child is truly ill or not. Tell him to take a nap, and if he is really sick, he probably will be up on his feet again quickly. If he’s truly ill, you might not be able to wake him easily.
It’s difficult to describe every warning sign, since it’s more than the actual symptoms that tell whether a child should go to school or not. The way he acts is a telltale clue to how sick he is. A child who is truly lethargic and difficult to wake, overly irritable, or crying more than usual is probably feeling especially sick and shouldn’t go to school, as they won’t get anything out of the school day anyway.
If your child is diagnosed with an illness and prescribed antibiotics, do not immediately send your child back to school. Depending on the individual illness, your doctor should let you know when it’s safe to send him back to school. Generally, the guideline for how long to wait after starting treatment before returning to school is after one or two days of antibiotics, but this depends on the individual infection, sometimes from one day to five days or more.
Consider letting the school nurse or a teacher know what’s going on with your child so that they can help if he gets sicker.
Making the decision of whether or not to send your child to school when he is sick is difficult, but keep these warning signs in mind when making the decision and be prepared to pick up your child early if you do send him to school after all.
Related posts:
- How to Stay in Touch With Your Child’s Teacher
- Children’s Headaches: Causes and Treatment
- Your Juvenile Diabetic Child
Tags: School Sick Day