Keep your child at home
Posted on | December 4, 2009 | Comments
And so the cold and flu season is upon us. It’s a tough time of year for parents as we attempt to go about our lives – whether we’re employed full-time, part-time or a full-time parent – and attempt to keep our child on their routine. The petri dishes our children dip in and out of each day make it inevitable that they’ll bring home various versions of the cold and flu viruses. Of course this year we have the bigger concerns of the H1N1 virus to maintain our stress levels at seasonal highs. What to do when your kid starts exhibiting symptoms?
Are they sick? Do they have a fever? Are they well enough to go to school? If I don’t send them I have to re-arrange my schedule, arrange childcare, take a sick day myself….the hassle starts to grow exponentially.
Every parent has a different threshold of tolerance for what constitues sick in their and also in other kids. In addition some parents are simply more germophobic than their neighbors. The decision starts to dwell in those pesky shades of gray as opposed to the clear extremes of the rich hues (aka black and white). An easy way to determine whether or not your kid is school-worthy (assuming they are not running a high fever) is to ask yourself the following question:
“If my child’s friend came over to my house and was exhibiting these symptoms, would I want them near my kid?”
If the answer is a solid “No” then you should not send your child to be around their friends in school. However if you feel comfortable with answering “Yes” to that question, then your child should probably go to school. This has to be a clear-cut choice. If you’re on the fence, then the answer is “No.”
Keeping your child home let’s them rest and get better. They will get healthy faster. In addition they will keep other kids healthier by not infecting them (an infection that could very easily come right back to your child). Also, teachers will be healthier. The less teachers have to miss a day at work, the better off our children will be.
Let’s work to keep our kids healthy and safe this cold and flu season.
What do you think? Is there a better way to determine when to send your child to school? Share you thoughts in the comments.
