How Can My Son Get an Education When He's Sick All the Time?!?

I am the mother of a 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter and it's my experience that kids build up their immunity in their early pre-school years (by getting sick all the time) and then by the time they are ready for kindergarten their systems are strong and they get sick much less frequently. In my opinion it's one of the benefits of pre-school. Kids who don't go to preschool and don't build up their immunity can tend to miss a lot of school that first year because they are sick all the time (at least that's what our kindergarten teacher says).

Your younger children will probably start to pick up germs from your oldest and may be able to fend them off at at earlier age. At least that's what happened with my daughter.

Finally, if your 4 year old continues to be constantly sick, you might want to look into getting him tested for allergies. Personally, I have a lot of allergies and when they are acting up I am much more susceptible to colds, bronchitis, etc. He might have some simple food allergies that could be affecting his health in ways that are not obvious.

Good luck!

L.

1 mom found this helpful

Unfortunately in my experience, once I started both of my boys in preschool that was pretty much the norm. It starts out when they are little and the good news is that when they start at around 2nd grade they are pretty much resilient little guys. I was much like yourself, would never to take them to school, but realized after looking around that 60% of the other kids had runny noses and coughs too.

There is one other thing you can do to see if something in the center is causing him to be more sensitive and have his allergies tested (which is a simple blood test), if the center is an older building and could have mold and that type of thing, he may just be having allergic reactions. There are simple medications that an Allergist can provide and make your life a little easier.

If you think this is just the common cold, send him to school as long as he doesn't have a fever and you should be good to GO! Your little ones will be exposed to the germs from the oldest one and when they go to school they will probably less apt to get sick...
Hope this helps...

I am dealing with the same issue. My youngest son is now five. I have been a single mom almost all his life and he has had to go to daycare or preschool. I can see that his immune system is getting better year by year. It is really hard for me because I have to stay home from work every time he is sick and take him to the doctor. I just keep thinking to myself that he is going to have a really good immune system by the time he gets in kindergarten. I also work on a school bus and we can not refuse transportation to any child so I get to see the teachers reactions when we show up with a sick child. They tend to get really upset when a child shows up to school with green or even thick snot coming out of their nose. We have children that have slight coughs and it seems to be OK. I am the aide on the school bus so I am face to face with all of the children and most of the time I can see it in their eyes when they are sick. The teacher will be sure to tell you if there is a constant issue.

Have you done a lot of research into feeding him a healthier diet? As a brief example, my children have only had Royal Crest milk and eggs from free-roaming chickens their whole lives, and rarely any juice or soda, and they're healthier than every single family of kids I've ever met. We don't eat vegan or anything extreme or difficult, but I go out of my way to avoid packaged & prepared foods because they're loaded with chemicals and other unnatural things which cannot possibly enhance our health.

If your cabinet is full of juice boxes and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, seriously, we should meet and talk. I want to reiterate that that stuff IS NOT FOOD and cannot possibly help your child's body more than the harm it does with all the sugar and chemicals.

I understand that this problem may have nothing to do with nutrition, but I make this suggestion because most people feed this stuff to their children, and their children are sick far, far more often than my children.

I am a homeschooling mom at the moment (and loving it), and just because you are homeschooling (if that's what you choose to do) doesn't mean your child need be starved for a social life. I didn't look at your info to see where you are, but many areas have homeschooling co-ops or Friday school, some church based, some secular, in which you could participate with other homeschooling families. And homeschool families tend to be much more understanding of the need for flexibilty, both in terms of scheduling and in terms of a child's academic and social progress. Many areas have a Yahoo homeschool group that might be a good place to start looking.

If you are in Utah kindergarten is not required so you do not have to worry about attendance that year. He will probably be doing better by first grade but as long as you get a doctors note after he has been absent over 7 days you will be fine.
(Sometimes when I took one of my kids home early due to sickness or they were absent too much but not sick enough to go to the doctor I would take them to the office and show the office that they had a fever and they counted that as an medically excused absence.)
I have an older child who got sick a lot 2nd grade on and I homeschooled her when she hit 6th grade because of this issue but I do not think it is that big of a problem in the younger grades. I agree with what others have said, if your child is sick a lot just help them learn to not spread germs as much as possible and send them to school unless they have a fever, have thrown up, or you can tell they will not function at all at school.
For a child who gets sick often you have to worry about them getting infected not who they are infecting.

Hi L.--
Is it possible that he has allergies? Little kids get sick a lot, but this sounds extreme. There are a few things you can try and some things to look for. First, if it is allergies there will be other symptoms: dark circles or puffiness under the eyes, rashes (eczema or hives), constipation and/or diarrhea often, ADHD like symptoms, to name a few. If it isn't allergies then there are some simple things you can do to boost his immune system. Get omega three fatty acids--you can buy them for kids at any natural food store. My little one likes the "gummies". Also, get him a chewable probiotic. Probiotics not only support digestive health, they also support the immune system. Again, any natural food store will have this. It wouldn't hurt to get him a multi-vitamin and some extra vitamin C as well.
Just some thoughts--hope they help! Happy to answer more questions if you have them about what I've said.
J.

As a former kindergarten teacher, I want to let you know that:
1- Kids get sick. A lot of kids came to school with runny nose and/or cough. Usually it's no big deal. Teach using a kleenex, coughing into his shoulder, and hand washing, and they're not a big deal. However, if he is lethargic, has a fever, or a severe cough (constant, dry/barking, or leaves him out of breath) he should stay home. If he's getting that sick every 2 months I would say take him to the doctor to rule out allergy or other issues.
2- It is important for him to be in school as much as possible. It makes a BIG difference in his learning for him to be there. Missing several days of school every few weeks can leave him horribly behind. It is important for kids to stay home when they truly are ill, but be careful of chronic absences. (Again, if he's very sick a lot, he should be checked out by a doctor).
3- Homeschooling is fine, IF you're willing to totally commit to it. Be prepared to spend several hours a day (and up to 6-7 as he gets into upper grades) with him. I've found (especially with my own kids!) that children will often do more for someone other than mom. So if he's now really cooperative, you may be setting yourselves up for lots of fights. But I've seen it work well for many families who are willing to put the work and effort into it. If you decide to home school, check with your states department of education to find out what requirements there are. Usually there's something you need to do to show that you are sufficiently educating your child, but it varies by state. Even if you don't homeschool, your children will be greatly benefited by your involvement in teaching them. So don't turn it over completely to the school!

Good luck!

1st off are you sure it is a cold or have you checked on seeing if he has an allergy. You may want to check with your doctor regarding an allergy screening. They can do a simple one with a blood test, if it is an allergy they can give you allergy medicine to help relieve his sypmtoms or sometimes with my son who has grass allergy I have to make sure he washes his hair and changes his pillow case frequently so he isn't exposed to the allergens at night.

2nd the rule most of the mom's in my neighborhood follow is to go ahead and send them to school unless they have a fever or other severe symptoms. Teach your son to use a tissue and throw it away each time he has to cough or blow his nose. If he doesn't have a tissue have him cough into his arm or elbow. This is better than using your hand since you don't tend to touch things with your arms as much as your hands. Also send him some hand sanitizer. The teachers in our area all have big bottles available in the classroom for the students to use.

Good Luck with your decision, their are definetely pros and cons to both public school and homeschool. You will just need to make the best choice for your family.

if he is sick that often I would have him tested for allergies, we just did this with my 3 year old, she takes an allergy pill each morning now and walah, her "colds" are gone. She was struggling with allergies all along. allergies will weaken the immune system which will make your child more prone to getting other bugs that come along if you don't treat the allergies. She also takes daily vitamins. I would go in and talk to your doctor about treating for allergies, the kids claritin is in a little purple chewable or in liquid my dd likes the chewable better. It's made a huge difference, she's only been on them for just over a week now and it's like a new little kid running around. it's awesome. Hope that helps.

I think as moms these days, we tend to be a bit over-vigilant about spreading germs. I'm not advocating people running about getting everyone sick with no concern for others, but I think sometimes we take it too far. If every parent kept their child home for every runny nose and cough, the schools would be half full all winter long. The reality is that as they share those sniffles, they are building healthy immune systems and by 2-3rd grades, they become much healthier. I don't keep my kids home for runny noses. I do keep them home for fever, vomiting, diarrhea - or a serious cough (like croup) or anytime they are really ACTING sick. If my kids are happy enough to play & don't have the things listed above, they go to school. And I'm okay with other parents sending happy kids with runny noses to school too. I know my kids will pick up things from other kids & I'm okay with that. We just wash our hands often & hope for the best.

I have 2 friends whose children have the same issue. One friend found that giving Echanachea (sp) drops every day cleared up the runny noses completely. My other friend took her son to an ENT and found that he had a serious sinus infection and just recently had his adenoids and tonsils removed and tubes put in his ears. Both children were very snotty all the time. They kept them in school because well honestly most kids are snotty.

First, you might want to get him checked to make sure he doesn't have allergies. Other than that, it sounds to me like he is building his immune system up- now he's exposed to new germs that his body is not used to and he will get better as his immune system grows. My rule about staying home with my oldest daughter (she's in kindy this year) is that if she doesn't have a fever, isn't throwing up or doesn't have severe symptoms, she goes to school. She knows to blow her nose with a tissue, cough away from people and tables and wash her hands if she coughs into them and after she blows her nose. Other than that, she's built up a fairly good immune system (she actually is on immune suppressant medications due to her juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, so I'm more careful with her when other kids get sick, but this isn't the norm). I can tell you, she had more runny noses at the beginning of the year than she does now. Just teach him how to avoid spreading germs, but he should be fine- healthy immune systems require some exposure to the germs to work.