Tag Archives: sick

Something that Bothers the Daylights out of me! When is a Child too Sick to go to School?

sick child
Photo source: Stuart Miles

My daughter had a holiday party at school before Christmas break and I couldn’t believe what I saw in her classroom.  Sick kids. Several of them.  Coughing, red-faced, snotty nosed 5 and 6 year olds.  I was beside myself.   Why had these kids parents sent their kids to school sick.  One girl was coughing so much she had to go to the nurse while I was there and several more kids had garbage cans right next to them to throw their snotty tissues in because they were blowing their noses so much.  My daughter had just gotten over a cold and I kept her home for 3 out of 5 days the week prior because I (a) wanted her to recover and (b) didn’t want her to get anyone else sick.  Why don’t all parents have the same consideration?  I guess there can be extenuating circumstances such as not having anyone to care for the child while the parent is at work but still, kids need to stay healthy and not pass these nasty bugs/viruses around so please keep your child home if they are not feeling well.

I understand that when a child is sick, it is sometimes tempting to send them to school anyway.  With many parents working either outside the home or from home,  household chores and other tasks are often accomplished while children are at school.   There are times, however, that a child is considered too sick to attend school, I believe.  There are a number of reasons, both for the child and the other students, why a sick child should stay home.

Here are four reasons why a child not feeling well should stay home from school:

  • Cough – Excessive coughing would not necessarily include the symptoms caused by asthma. Although asthma with excessive symptoms should be checked by a doctor.
  • Fever – A child with low grade fever should be kept home from school as well. Fevers are transmittable whether they are low or high.
  • Diarrhea
  • Vomiting

A few more things to consider before sending a sick child to school:

The child may be contagious.
By sending a child to school if he or she has a cough, fever, or has had diarrhea or has vomited in the last 24 hours, the risk of other children catching the same illness whether it’s a cold, flu, or other illness, is substantially higher than keeping the child home.

It is well known that to get better, lots of rest is needed.
If a child is at school and maintaining a regular schedule of activities, his/her body is not getting the extra rest required to heal. When a person, especially a younger elementary age child, does not feel well, they often times want to spend extra time cuddling with their parent. It is important that parents spend extra time with our kids when they are feeling under the weather.
A common rule that should be followed is that a child should be completely fever free for a full twenty-four hours before they should return to the classroom.
Nobody knows a child better than their parent. It is essential that the parent or guardian take the time to determine if the sickness is bad enough to keep a child home from the classroom. It is in the best interest of both your child and other children to keep your child home from the classroom if they are ill.
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What are your thoughts on keeping kids home when they aren’t feeling well or sending them on to school anyway?  Tell us in the comments below.
Alicia Hagan, Editor

This Blogger is Down and Out (Temporarily). I’ll be Announcing Contest Winners Soon – I Promise!

It’s been a rough 2012 so far.  It could be worse, but I have felt like a muddy shoelace that’s been trampled on for weeks without being tied and put into the safe keeping of the little lacing eyelet.  Not sure where that came from but it sounds about right.

This is my daughter but is how I feel.
This is my daughter but is exactly how I feel.

It all started when my 5 year old daughter had a cough and runny nose and I had a major sinus thing going on, a couple of weeks ago. We were due to go to Florida to visit my Dad and step-mom right after Christmas so I took myself and my daughter to urgent care the day before our departure date, to get checked out.  After waiting at urgent care for three hours, I got two shots (steroid and anti-biotic) and antibiotic meds and she got antibiotic meds to take for five days.  I was told I had a sinus infection and that it was a good thing that I came in because my eustachian tubes looked like they were about to burst.  This all happened after a 2.5 hour wait and upon seeing the actual dr for less than 4 minutes tops.

Anyway, the kids and I drove on to Florida the next day and silly me, I thought that my daughter and I would be all cleared up of our illnesses within 24 hours of taking the antibiotics but here I am almost two weeks later, still sick with a cough, wheezing, and now abdominal pain.

I have been resting a lot. I hate resting.  I hate sleeping.  Both seem like a waste of time. I like to be busy.  I like to feel like I’m always accomplishing something.  There’s always something to accomplish, right?

Resting isn’t for me.  It’s a form of torture.  I think my husband likes it when I rest though.  He doesn’t have to watch me clean, work, organize, do laundry, brush tangles out of hair, mark the calendar up, create lists, etc.

Why isn’t this darn sickness going away? I’m resting, taking steroids, using cough syrup, drinking straight honey, using my inhaler, and drinking plenty of clear fluids gosh darn it!

On that note, I know I am behind on chosing winners for my December contests and will get to that as soon as I have the mental energy to commit to what it takes to choose winners.  I use random.org to choose winners randomly and that’s the easy part.  It’s the contacting the winner’s, writing the email with all the contest specs, contacting the PR representative/company about shipping the prizes, etc that is time consuming.  I love what I do though and that’s why I’ve been doing it for ten years now and will keep it up!

I feel bad for not having chosen winners for my most recent contests and for not keeping up with the 21,867 emails in my inbox but I have to take care of my self or I’m never going to get over this.

Thanks for your patience and support!

Alicia Hagan, Editor

Mommy Tips: Remedies for the Summer Cold

I just got over a summer cold and I didn’t like it one bit.  I dread the day when one of my kids gets another cold.  The sleepless nights, tissues everywhere, the visions of germs on every surface in the house.. yuck!  It’s no fun when anyone has a cold, especially a child who doesn’t understand how to blow her own nose.  While it’s usually recommended that children under 4 not take medication for colds, you can certainly use remedy’s 1, 3, 4, and 5.

Kids-Eeze Cold RemediesHere are a remedies for the summer cold should you need them:

1) Make sure you drink a lot of Vitamin C. Vitamin C will help shorten the length of a cold. Try drinking cold drinks such as orange juice or grapefruit juice

2) Pick up a pack Kids-EEZE soft chews. They target coughs and sinus congestion, the main symptoms of a cold or hay fever.  It comes in delicious summer flavors like grape!

3) Try using a humidifier. These are great in the summer time because they do not add any additional heat to the room and it cleanses the air.

4) Honey is one of the best remedies if you’re having a sore throat along with a cold. Try adding honey to every day meals such as pancakes or to your ice tea.

Moms.. this one is for you too..

5) Get plenty of rest. Whether you are sick or not, a good night’s sleep will always improve a person’s overall health.

Learn about Kids-EEZE soft chews here.

What tried and true cold remedies do you use when your kids get sick?  Share them with us in the comments below.

Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way for this post.

Alicia Hagan, Editor


 

Don’t go more than 10 ft from Mom..you might explode!

I’m really not feeling good today. Massive amounts of phlegm, a headache, fatigue..you know the drill. I’m usually not a fan of naps or sitting still but today all I want to do is stay in bed. I’ve been trying to suck it up and clean, cook, and play with the kids but this cold, or whatever it is that I have, is exhausting me and I just want to rest.


I told the kids that I wanted to rest in my bedroom for a few minutes and my 11 year old grabbed the iPad and my 4 year old grabbed a banana and her LEGO’s and they both came in my room. Seriously? One in the bed with me and one on the floor. I knew I wasn’t going to be able rest like that so I came up with the idea of building a fort with the ironing board and a blanket. Yes, I had to set up a fort in order for the kids to play in in my bedroom quietly so I can rest. Now they are about 9 feet away from me quiet as mice with the ipad and Lego’s in their ironing board fort.

I think they are under the assumption that if they are more than 10 ft away from me at any given time, they might explode. I don’t know.

What do your kids do when you say you are going to rest? Do they follow you or find something to do by themselves?