Is Your Child too Sick for School ?

Early in the morning, it is often difficult to make a decision about whether or not your child is sick enough to stay home from school. With minor symptoms, you often cannot tell whether it is going to get better or worse during the course of the day.

The main reasons for keeping your child home are:

*if they might spread a contagious disease to other children.

As a rule of thumb, a child should stay home if there is

a fever over 100.4* F,

vomiting (especially more than twice),

diarrhea

a very frequent cough,

a persistent pain (ear, stomach, etc.), or

a widespread rash.

Most of these problems need to be discussed with your child’s health care provider to determine if an office visit is needed. (If your child has frequent complaints of pain or illness that cause school absences, you should consider the possibility that your child is intentionally avoiding school. Bring this to the attention of the child’s doctor before a great deal of school has been missed.) Children who don’t have a fever and only have a mild cough, runny nose, or other cold symptoms can be sent to school without any harm to themselves or others. Hand washing, blowing your nose with a tissue, coving your mouth when you cough, and general infection control are good practices in these situations.

Please Remember : make sure your child’s school knows how to reach you during the day, and that there is an emergency back-up plan and phone number on file if they cannot reach you.