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Original poster

To think people want to wrap kids up in cotton wool now?!

106 replies

Beforeorafterchristmas · 12/12/2025 14:48

I just saw a video on Instagram where some woman was ranting about “kids being made to come into school ill” and how we should all just be allowed to stay at home when we have the sniffles or whatever.

My kids have a cold every 10 minutes. When are they supposed to go into school? When am I supposed to work if they’re always off?

Honestly, I feel like more and more people want to wrap their kids up in cotton wool and it’s going to mean zero resilience for any of them growing up.

Am I just really old fashioned or something?!

OP posts:
TheNightingalesStarling · 12/12/2025 15:00

Wrapping children in cotton wool is dangerous.. its highly flammable.

Its tricky because there are parents who look for an excuse to keep their children home, and others who will send them in with a leg hanging off and instructions not to bleed everywhere. Its getting the balance right.

LyndaLaHughes · 12/12/2025 14:59

So schools are now a babysitting service for sick kids? They should “sit in the medical room.”Wow. This is an incredibly ludicrous suggestion. If kids are sick, they need to stay home so that they don’t spread it to everyone else. If you are sick enough to need to sit in a medical room, then you are not well enough to be in school. It’s very different from having a mild cold or cough. Not to mention the fact that most schools don’t have school nurses or medical rooms any more or spare adults to look after kids who shouldn’t be in school. There is no capacity for this even if it was reasonable which is absolutely isn’t.

savoycabbage · 12/12/2025 14:57

I’ve been teaching for thirty years and I’ve never seen a medical room.

savoycabbage · 12/12/2025 14:56

I agree with her. I think it’s madness that schools are made to put pressure on parents to bring their children to school when they aren’t well. It’s honestly awful having an unwell child in your care for a whole day. You can’t look after them or make them feel any better really. Parents should not feel guilty about keeping sick children at home.

Original poster
Beforeorafterchristmas · 12/12/2025 14:55

My work isn’t going to let me take time off every time my children are ill, so what are we supposed to do @MumofCandRA? We always used to just go to school and sit in the medical room if we didn’t feel great! I’d never be able to work at this time of year if the kids were always off sick

OP posts:
MumofCandRA · 12/12/2025 14:53

Nope - this is not a good example. If kids are sick they should be home. And I say this as a full time mom, with 2 kids who have just had flu and were off nearly 2 weeks between them. It's a PTA but not an example of wrapping kids in cotton wool, just what needs to be done. Ill kids shouldn't be in school and the mania around attendance has to stop, it should be focus on outcomes. I'm nearly 50 and it's always been like this, suggest you have pink tinted glasses on here.

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