Contagious Illnesses

My daughter is in preschool. Next year she will be in kindergarden. She woke up Friday morning with a red eye later found out it was pink eye. Becuase she had no drainage from the eye the doctor at first said it wasnt pink eye over the phone and I called the school and told them the doctor beleived it was from her allergies but they still needed a note before they would let her back into school. We took her to the doctors who said she had pink eye but it was going away and gave her eye drops and kept her hoem the next day because as the doctor said "They will be watchin her like a hawk and even though after she has taken medicine for 24 hours she is no longer infectious they will send her home. So it is better to be safe than sorry." At my daughters school if the kids have real bad runny noses or anything they send them home. Like I said it is pre-school so maybe kindergarden next year will be different but i hope not. The board is making the schools have so many days of school each year and are not takin into account about illnesses. I have heard on the news that a school in another county had to cancel classes two days in a row becuase 80% of the student body was sick. Making a sick child come to school is only making the problem worse.

I agree with you 100%!! My son is in pre-school. Most of the mothers / caregivers don't work yet they are still sending the kids to school in such poor condition. One Mother was even tell the other mothers how her child was just vomiting right before they lef for school!! I took my son home that morning. What is the matter with people. Jen your are not alone.

AMEN .........I am currently sitting up with my 1st grade son who is vomiting. A child was sick in class the other day and low and behold now mine has it. I keep mine home if they are sick and will not send them back until they have been symptom free for 24 hrs. I wish others were as considerate.

Right there with you,
Jess

I work with a mom who did keep her child out when he had diarrhea or vomiting, and she even sent a doctor's excuse. Her son was excluded from all field trips and school activities for the rest of the year because he missed over 7 days of school. Her son was devestated and even when she tried to appeal to the school board they said that if her son isn't responsible enough to come to school even under the weather then he wasn't responsible enough to go to school functions. This is why parents send their kids to school when they are sick, because the kids WILL be punished for missing school, and parents often have to meet with truancy officers when their children miss school, even if they do have a doctors excuse. It's the school boards that need to rethink their positions on sick children attending! But yes I do feel your pain, it seems as though we are always sick because of the things that are kids pick up in school or out in public when they are around other kids, and we prefer to stay home when we're sick anyway, not go running about spreading it around!

Hi J. i do agree with you. I have four kids three in school. I always keep my kids home when they are sick. It angers me when i see kids sick and at school. three of my kids have asthma when they get a cold there asthma also kicks in. They missed a whole week just last week because of being sick with a cold. My son was in the nurses office waiting for me to pick him up and some boy was in there too. He vomited all over my sons shoes. He told the nurse he was sick since the night before. If i could have seen his mother she would have gotten a piece of my mind. Because a few days later he then got it and it spread throughout the house. I say dont be so thoughtless keep them home. steph

I'm not a germ-aphobic, but I do have my limits to what I can/will tolerate. My home has the antibacterial gel and I keep it filled. So does my car. I do feel that some germs should be gotten while the kids are young, but stomach viruses are NOT one of them. These can be avoided simply with washing hands, gel, and not touching the face throughout the day. When I'm in a public restroom, I use the paper towel that I dried my hands with to open a bathroom door that won't push opened. Then I throw it away in the trash can by the door.

My area school is provided (by the PTA) with bottles of hand gel for EACH classroom and a refill in the supply closet where all teachers can get to it. MOF, a friend of mine initiated this practice. It's a SMALL price to pay towards keeping not only ONE child, but most all of them healthy. Sigalosis (whatever THAT is) was running rampant in the district, not just the school when she started this program. Now, most of the other schools in the district have gotten this illness again, but not ours!!

Funny, the quote that is generally attributed to the Bible, "cleanliness is next to Godliness" is actually from Francis Bacon. In his 'Advancement of Learning' (1605) he wrote: 'Cleanness of body was ever deemed to proceed from a due reverence to God.'