Stay Home When.....

WHEN TO KEEP YOUR CHILD HOME FROM SCHOOL

These days, with all the sickness going  around  a question parents are facing regularly is when should I  keep my child home?

It's not usually a straightforward question, either. For most families, keeping a child home means missing work--and although our families are of course our first priority, missing work can be hard. Missing school isn't great for children’s learning, either.

Also, it is not just about your child--it's about other children, too. Children are really, really good at spreading germs.

Because many children have been reporting to me that they were sick during the night or in the morning just before school, I am sending this reminder with some information on when to keep your children home.   

24 hours is the minimum that children should stay home after fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and starting antibiotics for a diagnosis with Strep throat or Pink Eye.  There will be a longer period of time if your child has a communicable disease, depending on what disease it is. Please call me 

If they have any symptom that you would want to take them to the doctor urgently for, they shouldn't go to school.  For example: any trouble breathing, or bad pain, or a new limp. Sometimes parents send them and then call the doctor, figuring they'll pick them up or take them after school.  Please don't.

There are some hard and fast rules that all parents should stick to when it comes to illness and keeping your children home.  If your child has any of the following symptoms, it's time to let the school know your student won't be at their desk:

• Fever of 100.0 degrees F. or higher – must be fever free without fever-reducing medication for 24 hours before going back to school. Please--resist the temptation to give acetaminophen or ibuprofen, send them off, and cross your fingers. You might decrease their fever, but you won’t decrease their contagiousness--and the medicine wears off within 4 hours.
• Vomiting and diarrhea - Reasonably obvious, although I've seen it happen. Usually it's a hopeful parent who thinks that just because the child feels better after vomiting, they are better. Unless they've gone at least 24 hours without vomiting, they are not better--and really, with vomiting and/or diarrhea you should wait until your child has gone 48 hours without vomiting or diarrhea (without taking medicine!) before sending them back to school.
• A rough night (for example, if your child was up all night coughing or having trouble breathing)
• Significant cough that makes a child feel uncomfortable or disrupts the class
• Large amount of discolored nasal discharge, especially if accompanied by facial pain or headache
• Listlessness, lethargy ... Child is too sleepy or ill from an illness, like vomiting and/or diarrhea, to profit from sitting in class all day
• No appetite
• Pink eye
• Your child doesn’t seem "herself" or “himself”

If your child is staying home from school, it doesn't mean you have to go to the doctor. Most childhood illnesses can be taken care of with fever-reducing medications (ibuprofen or acetaminophen) and tender love and care. However, if your child shows any of the following symptoms, you should call your pediatrician:

• Have a temperature of 101.0 degrees F. or more
• Have diarrhea or blood in urine
• An existing breathing condition that has recently become worse
• Vomiting or diarrhea that lasts more than a few hours
• Any cold or cough that doesn't go away after six or seven days - or if your child's cold worsens and a fever develops
• Severe sore throat, enlarged tonsils with white patches and inflammation
• Pink Eye
• Ear pain with a fever, or drainage leaking from the ear
• No fluids within the last 24 hours
• Honey-crusted sores around the nose or mouth or rash on other body parts that might be impetigo; OR a rash in various stages including boils, sores and bumps that may be chicken pox; OR a significant rash accompanied by other symptoms of illness such as fever

Questions to Consider When Your Child is Sick:

• Does your child’s illness keep him/her from comfortably taking part in activities?
• Does your sick child need more care than the staff can give without affecting the health and safety of other children?
• Could other children get sick from being near your child?
• If the answer to any of these questions is “Yes,” please keep your child out of school.
• If you are in doubt about any symptoms your child has, please call us.

Other Guidelines to follow:

• Children with strep throat need 24 hours of antibiotics first, which can mean staying home the day after diagnosis (or possibly longer).  Doubling up on the antibiotic does not mean they can come back sooner.  The antibiotic takes a minimum of 24 hours to start working, whether or not you double up on it.  
• Chickenpox sores should be dry and crusted over before returning to school (usually this takes about 6 days).
• Other contagious infections — like rubella, whooping cough, mumps, measles, and hepatitis A — have specific guidelines for returning to school. Your school nurse or doctor can help you figure this out.
• Lice: we have a “no nit policy” at CLA which means the child must have a lice treatment and remove all nits before returning to school.  Please arrange with the nurse to have a head check before returning to class.
• Pink eye – must be on antibiotic eye drops for 24 hours before returning to school.
• If the student receives a positive COVID-19 test result they should not attend school and should isolate until: at least 5 days since symptoms first appeared AND 24 hours fever-free without taking fever-reducing medication AND other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving.

 Teach Your Child Frequent Handwashing

• Proper hand hygiene is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of germs. Teach your child to wash their hands frequently, especially before eating and after using the bathroom or blowing their nose. It's also important to wash hands after touching desks, doorknobs and handrails.
• Remind and show your children to discard used tissues promptly, not to share personal items, to cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze, and to keep their hands away from their face.

Breakfast:  The Right Start

Finally, I see so many children who do not eat breakfast and are out of energy by 10:00 AM.  Remember the saying, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day?"  After fasting all night, breakfast can "kick-start" your child's energy level in the morning.  A morning meal increases the metabolic rate.  Skipping breakfast slows the metabolic rate, thus leaving you with less energy later in the day.  Sugary pastries or cereals are high sugar foods which should be avoided because, although they cause one's energy level to soar briefly, that energy will not last but will probably fall to a lower level.  High protein foods and whole grains give your child longer-lasting energy. 

• If your child refuses breakfast, try a protein shake or at least send them with a high protein snack that I can send them to get when they come to me with a headache or general malaise because they have not eaten since dinner the night before. 

 

CLICK ON THESE PICTURES & THEY WILL OPEN IN A NEW WINDOW: