do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

Specifically in the younger grades?

Re: do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

Nope.

Has to be really sick to keep him out.

They always have colds.

Re: do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

Yes, I agree that kids always have colds. I think my kids were sick with a cold from Nov-April last year. When I picked ds up from school yesterday, his teacher let me know that he was coughing all day & I took how she said it to mean I should have kept him home. Just wondering since I am still new to having a child in school.

do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

Depends on the cold. If its so bad that their eyes are glassy and runny and their nose is so stuffed so bad it hurts, then yes. A typical average cold, no.

Re: do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

Younger grades like preK-1 yes but I was a SAHM. I know it shouldn't matter but the two factors ( less school work and homework to miss and I didn't have to take off made a difference than they do now).

Now I send them unless they have a fever.

Re: do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

No. My kids would have been absent half of last year if I did. I only keep them home if it is serious. Fever or vomiting or stomach bug.

For a runny nose or cough they go to school. The amount of work they would need to make up alone is enough reason for me. It's like they get punished for being sick!

Message edited 10/2/2014 8:05:25 PM.

Re: do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

No. They're sick a lot during the school year and if I kept him home every time he was sick he'd miss half the year. He goes to school unless he has a fever or is throwing up.

Re: do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

It depends on the cold but usually yes, for a day or 2. Cold viruses aren't like they used to be and I just think that when my son has a cold, he is more susceptible to anything else out there. Plus I think that one day of rest can make a difference. Usually I get what he gets and we're home sick together anyway. Geez, maybe he would be safer at school.

Re: do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

My DS tends to get a runny or stuffy nose and a cough, but doesn't really feel sick when he does. He has normal energy and always feels up to going to school and doing his activities. I can probably count the number of times he's been really sick on one hand (thankfully!). So I usually send him.

If he felt sick, I would keep him home. If he had such a severe cough that I thought it would be disruptive, or if I feared he had something like a sore throat that could be strep or some other type of infection, I would definitely keep him home. Or if he wasn't improving and I felt he needed a doctor's visit, I would keep him home.

But for an average cold that most kids get many times a year, and that can take a week or so to fully clear, I would not keep him home. And I feel like most of the moms I know with school aged kids are the same way.

do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

No...only if its really bad or they have a fever

Re: do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

If they have an active cough I keep them home.

Re: do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

Sometimes.

I know it's "just a cold" but even when I have a cold the first day or two I feel pretty run down, tired, and icky. You don't need to be deathly ill or running a 104 fever to feel like garbage so I use my judgement. I know my DD well enough to know when she's really feeling "off" and not well and if I think it's necessary, I'll keep her home to rest.

**She's 6 and in first grade**

Message edited 10/5/2014 12:21:12 AM.

Re: do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

My DS just started at a pre-school. He has had a cold on and off, the school always seems to call me to tell me about this (like that he was coughing, irritable, crying). I know in the handbook they encourage to keep your LO home if they have a cold but if I did that each time he got a cold I would have to take multiple days off from work! They called me to come pick him up on Tuesday afternoon, and he was out yesterday. He still has a cold/cough today and I sent him but I am dreading them calling me now... not sure if this is the norm since school is all new to me.

do you keep your child home from school when they have a cold?

NO WAY!
You sneeze you cough you have a runny nose
You go to school
Your throat hurts, your eyes water, your ears itch
You go to school

Unless you have a Fever, Vomiting, the Runs or lethargic/can't move/utterly drained (at which point you are useless anyway) - You will go to school.


ETA: I mediate her just before she leaves the house. So far I've only had to give her Motrin once for a low grade fever I didn't want to risk. She was otherwise fine and it was day two of a fever I had let her cook with, so on a Monday I drugged her and sent her to school, no issues, fever never came back. I've given her cough medicine on the way out or Tylenol to reduce swelling of her throat and ears, eye drops for her eyes or just some honey.

School nurse also allows us to leave cold medicine at school but it must be in its original packaging, with our signature and specific directions of use. So lots of kids go to school with a sniffle.

Message edited 10/9/2014 9:29:53 AM.