Just curious , are you always comfortable when you send your kind of sick child to school? Do you tend to err on the side of caution? I hate sending sick kids to school, but if I don't send my guy then he falls so far behind. Techincally the rules are fever, vomiting, etc gone for 24 hours. Well my guy has asthma, he isn't sick, he just has really low breathing numbers right now. He says he feels fine, but the machine is NOT telling me that. I sent him to school, he wanted to go, he needs to go, but I am not 100% okay with it. They have his meds and probably would call 911 long before I would, so he is probably better off there! Anyway, just curious, those of you with chronic sick kids, what are your guidelines? My son also has JRA so he misses his share of days. In tx you must attend 90% of school to get a years credit, that means no more than 17 absences (you can go around this, but it is a pain). Each year he is is at 16 or 17. This year we are only at 8 so far.

By Debbie on Monday, February 7, 2005 - 10:04 am:

Kaye, my youngest has asthma too, so I can relate. He is just in preschool, but loves going. I would hate to keep him home everytime he had trouble with his asthma. He would be home all winter. On days when he is not 100%, I just make sure to let his teacher know when I drop him off. Also, my oldest has allergies. He has a lot of post nasal drip which makes him not feel so great some days. I usually send him unless he has a fever or is vomiting. I just make sure that I am very accessible all day when they are not 100%, so I can pick them up if I need too.

By Reds9298 on Monday, February 7, 2005 - 09:42 pm:

As a teacher I have had many students with serious asthma problems during various times of year. It is easy for them to miss a lot of school because of it, but I think as long as everyone who comes in contact with the child at school is aware, things will be fine. I agree that it's so easy for them to get behind. Just make sure the teacher, nurse, gym teacher, and anyone else that spends a lot of time with him at school and everything will be fine. You'll be teaching him something about 'toughing it out' some days which he'll have to do as a grown-up, and you're making sure that he's safe by making everyone aware at school. I am always very alert about my asthma kids because I want parents to feel as comfortable as possible.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, February 8, 2005 - 12:30 am:

I pretty much keep my kids home for vomiting, fever and sometimes a bad cough (who wants to listen to that all day!) Mine don't have asthma though, and a bad cough happens rarely.

Although, with Emily finally having appendicitis, I wonder how many of her vomiting episodes last year were because of that! She missed a few days of school here and there. Thankfully, no vomiting since she had her surgery! It's been almost 6 weeks!

By Missmudd on Tuesday, February 8, 2005 - 11:52 am:

I think that if you child has asthma that is one thing, they arent contagious. So it is fine to send them off to school as long as everybody is aware that they are having a rough time. If your child has something that is catching, that is another thing. We have a big outbreak of whooping cough right now and even some of the kids that are vaccinated are coming down w/ it because it is so prevalent. They are advising that the 3rd booster (I think) that you usually give before they enter kindergarden be given as soon as they turn 4 to try to nip the outbreak in the bud.

I try to err on the side of caution, my #2 ds was out all the time but then he changed schools he is much better. I think it might have been sick building syndrome. I know that alot of the time that parents send the kids to school when they have no business being there and then the rest of us have to deal w/ the consequences. Last year about this time they almost shut school down because close to 30% of the kids were out sick. People just kept sending the sick ones to school and they stayed just long enough to infect the healthy ones.