As a parent with a kiddo in school, I get the temptation to send kids to school despite their illnesses. It's difficult to take off from work, especially to stay home with a kid who seems well. Last week my munchkin had pink eye in both eyes, but not on the same day, which resulted in her staying home two days while it cleared up. Totally fun, right? No ... especially when, for all intents and purposes, she was perfectly fine, playing with her brother outside and everything. But let's consider some things, shall we?
First, there is a reason doctors have reccommended that schools not allow students back until the fever has been gone for 24 hours - those kids are still contagious! And now you have sent him to school. Yes, your kid has been fever-free since six this morning, but he is still wallowing in a cess pool of whatever virus caused the fever in the first place, and now he will spread that cess poolness all over the campus resulting in multiple kids getting it. Their parents will probably make the same choice you did, and now it's a campus-wide problem of colds, coughs, and fevers. You have successfully turned your kid into the monkey from
Outbreak. Fantastic.
Second, there are children at school with your child who are affected more by illness than most kids. I can speak first-hand about type 1 diabtes, which is an autoimmune disease. Since my kid's immune system is already out of whack, when she gets sick, it goes completely whack-o. She has been hospitalized by strep throat - strep throat, people - because it made her diabetes freak out. I can say that personally, I would be beyond angry if I found out the parent of the kid who got my child sick knowingly sent their child to school sick so they wouldn't have to miss work. Thanks ... now I owe the hospital several thousand dollars, all so you wouldn't have to use a sick day. And diabetes isn't the only disease that causes problems when a child gets ill, so think about those ramifications before you stuff contraband cough drops and Tylenol and travel-sized Kleenex into your kid's bag and drop him off at the front door of the building (without a kiss good-by, of course ... wouldn't want to get sick yourself).
Finally, your kid has been sick. I know kids bounce back quickly, but shouldn't your kid get time to rest and heal before sending him back out into the world? He spends the day tired, run down, and generally in a half-coma anyway, so what have you accomplished? Nothing ... your kid learned nothing today. He could have been at home sleeping off his illness and learning nothing, but hey, he'll get a perfect attendance award at the end-of-year ceremony. Score!
I know we're not all like this. I know most of us keep our kids home when they are sick, but I think we'd have to keep them home less if other parents kept their kids home more. I just kills me when a kid walks in my classroom, obviously ill, and lets me know his mom realized he was sick, but said he had to go to school anyway. No amount of hand sanitizer can make me feel like I'm not covered in snot germs for the rest of the day. And what if I don't get sick, but I take it home and give it to my diabeteic? No one wins, here ... except that kid's parents who are at work instead of nursing a sick kiddo back to good health and my pediatrician and/or local ER who will profit off of me having to take my kid in because of the aforementioned complications with diabetes.
So do you know what the teachers in your kids' lives really want for Christmas? Hand sanitizer ... lots and lots of hand sanitizer ... industiral-sized bottles of the stuff. And Kleenex. The good kind. Not the kind that scratch and are so thin you might as well blow your nose into your hand 'cause your fingers come away damp. The thick, soft kind that carresses your sore nose and keeps your fingers dry. Because as long as kids knowingly come to school sick, they will have to fight the good fight against snot germs.
And I'll pledge here and now to keep my sick kid at home so that I am not one of "those" parents.
You're welcome :)
