What age do you go from off school to get used to it?

[SecondaryPreparation]

When DC are feeling under the weather? I've always kept DC home when looking peaky or not feeling 100% as I figured there was no point sending them in to either spread it or catch something else. Plus my eldest has SN so sending him in would be pointless.

I think they're old enough to put up with it now if they've e.g. a light cold (no temp, slight sore throat but sound fine) and don't need any kind of medicine. They're old enough to follow basic hygiene rules etc. So I think they're old enough to accept life goes on when your not 100%. What age would that be for you?

What age would you move to dosing up
with e.g. Beechams or paracetamol and telling them to get on with it?

From birth, really.

Yep, from day one.

It’s not an age thing.
It doesn’t matter if they are 4 or 14 it depends on how ill they are and their symptoms. I’m in the ‘you’re not dying, you’re going’ camp, but I’m an adult and there have been some times when beechams and powering through have not even been possible for me.

I've only really kept mine off if they've vomited but I don't take time off unless I'm actually too ill to work

From 9 (to me day my child rang me from school as they knew I was working from home ) so that was them told - once we got home they were smiling and chirping

so now I tell them to put up with sniffles

I mean, I've sent my child to nursery if I thought he would perk up when he got there, so from 1. I keep him home if he's actually ill, temp, or needs a day to recover from a bad illness. Otherwise he goes in, because I need to work and I know they'll look after him and call me if he needs to come home.

Much as others have said if you’re not dying you can go to school! It’s the way I was brought up and incidentally I have had next to no days off work sick in the past 13 years of my career as I just get on with it.
D&V bugs obvs different for the kiddies but these are few and far between!
calpol works wonders!

It was from day one in our house.

I only ever days off for vomiting or chicken pox.

I have kept mine off so far when their presence would be futule, but a quiet day would give them a chance to recover. The last time was when they were 6/7ish... but that was also Pre Covid. They are older now and colds don't effect them as much. If they were effected badly, I would consider it.

That age was as soon as they started school.

My school would be more than half empty at the moment if every parent kept their child off with a minor cold.

Unless projectile vomiting, covered in blood or unconscious, it’s off to school. That has been the rule from day 1!

Not a question as I would never have let a peaky child stay at home in the first place

I think there’s plenty of times I’ve sent my DC in when perhaps if I’d had the opportunity to keep them home I would have, but we’ve always been a 2-working parents household and therefore anyone has to be proper ill to stay home, otherwise we’d never have been at work. Even so, the early years were fraught.

The school day is fairly short so if you’re OK with a dose of Calpol/paracetamol/Beechams or whatever, and a packet of tissues, then in you go.

😂my views too.

My DS has asthma so sometimes colds can hit him hard with a brutal constant cough, so he has a day off to just lounge about at home and try and recover. That’s been once this school year, so I’m not talking loads.

But if it’s just sniffles and a bit of a cold then they’d be off every week between them. As presumably would half the school.

Vomiting, infectious diseases like chickenpox will get you a day off. Other than that, if you aren't actively bleeding, off you go to school. Two full time working parents means you go if you possibly can. Sniffles are almost constant from October to March

I'd rather she go to school and get sent home than be kept off school unnecessarily.

I keep her off for D+V, very high temp, so tired she can't keep her eyes open but otherwise it's off to school and they send her home.

She's been sent home from school twice since she started (Now Y3) so I think it's not a bad policy - once she'd got a head injury and vomitted after it so was sent home (and then missed 2 further days due to concussion) and the other time was covid.

Nursery age was different as it didn't matter so much if she missed a day to catch up so she missed quite a lot.

I only really keep them off for D&V, high temperature or if it needs a doctors appointment. Otherwise it’s calpol and in you go!

Mine have only been off for d&v, chicken pox and a broken collar bone.

My mum was always a "unless you're on the cusp of death, you're going in" type but every once in a while she'd seem to pick up on if we were knackered or sad or run down and tell us that we could have the day off. We'd have a quiet sofa day and rest a bit, eat etc and then go back the next day. It wasn't regular but my sister and I are both quite good at powering through illness wise now, while still recognising that just sometimes, it's important to prioritise some rest or recovery for yourself, illness aside.

I do the same with my kids now and they seem to be going in the same direction.

Mine stay home if they feel ill (but I am here) it’s pretty much up to them but they rarely ever do. (As in their attendance has never been an issue) I’d be worried if they were looking to stay home not forcing them in.

Am with you OP I have always given my kids a day off if they are bit under the weather. Their attendance has never fallen below 97% because of it.

Once my daughter started Year 10 and GCSE’s that’s when I started to just give paracetamol and her send her in to see how she went.

Oh dear. Overwhelming message not mollycoddle them and just send them in then!

Unless they've got a temp or are miserable mine have always been sent to school

If you are well enough to do anything other doze in bed or on the sofa, you get sent to shool. (unless vomiting)