Why can nobody adhere to the 48hr sick bug rule?!

[Toughtips]

I understand people have jobs to go to but why bring your poor child back into school when he was only sick and sent home yesterday? Just seen one who got sent home back doing his school nativity looking pasty as anything. Someone commented underneath the photo "is he better now" to the reply of yeah he really wanted to go in. AIBU to be annoyed that school allow this?

[juneau]

Insecure employment
Bosses being arses about parents taking sick leave
Schools giving awards for maximum attendance
And some people are just selfish arseholes.

[LaurieMarlow]

Its because I think a lot of employers dont like people taking time off whatever the reason. Many people are in insecure employment so it can cause a problem for them.

This has huge impact. Unfortunately, a lot of employers see no reason to accommodate family issues. Not everyone has family support.

I don't think there are many parents out there who actually want to send sick children into school.

[WatchingFromTheWings]

My DSis does this. Sends the kids in the day after sickness/D&V. Eldest is an adult now so not an issue but she did it to him too when he was a kid. She wasn't even working at the time but wasn't going to let a contagious bug get in the way of her gym/shopping/lunch in the pub time! She wouldn't be told/didn't give a fuck.

[moobeana]

As a teacher I am have always been adamant and hard line about his. To the point it was slapped by a parent for calling him back to pick up a very ill child for the second day in a row. She literally fell asleep on the floor and could barely be woken.

Our head was similarly hardline and told him he had to come a collect her.
When he come to pick her up he called me a silly bitch who knew nothing (I was an NQT with no children of my own you see.) He was in a very important meeting when we called. I simply said she was poorly and extremely tired. She needs to be at home, not at school. He then slapped me and told me to know my place!

So I can see why some teachers don’t hold the line. We get given a lot of grief!

[juneau]

He then slapped me and told me to know my place!

Please tell us you reported him to the police for assault

[FlipFlopFlappy]

Dd was last sick Monday 8am. She’ll be going back to school in the morning. I always keep off 48 hours and would feel really guilty if I didn’t.

[horridhenry64]

I've always kept mine off for the full 48 hours afterwards , until I got a letter last week 'warning' me that we've been reported to the attendance officer as their attendance isn't good enough and that no more days off will be authorised without a drs note .
They've been off on three seperate occasions since September with d&v . It's so difficult to get a dr appointment around here so I really don't know what I'm meant to do if they're ill again !

[AveAtqueVale]

Agree -a couple of pasty looking folk turned up at my son’s baptism on Sunday. One told me while holding said baby that she was so glad she’d made it as she’d been vomiting just the previous evening. DS has spent the last two days throwing up on me and I’ve now got it too. Just waiting for DH and DS1 to get it now. So fucked off.

[baritonehome]

Its because I think a lot of employers dont like people taking time off whatever the reason. Many people are in insecure employment so it can cause a problem for them.

^^ This!!!

[Coconutcreampie]

I had an awkward situation last week whereby when walking home after school I saw a child in my sons class being very sick by the road with his mother. The follwing day she then dropped him off at class. I notified reception who contacted the mother who denied it completely and as he hadn't been Ill in school the previous day it was my word against hers and they had to let him stay in

[TammySwansonTwo]

Hedgehog I totally get it. My little twin has a similar condition - he was exposed to a bug a couple of weeks ago, we are all sick his blood sugars are a disaster and he doesn't want to eat. Oh, and he now has bronchiolitis too. Joy!

[HamishBamish]

Very few people seem to stick to the 48h rule. I do religiously, but I work from home so I can still carry on working. Usually they are symptomatic for at least 2 days and then 2 days symptom free can knock out nearly a whole week. I can understand why a lot of people find that amount of time difficult to manage if they have work commitments.

[DO3271]

My son also has type 1 diabetes, a sickness bug for him is life threatening. Yes, really. I have to glue myself to him and test his blood hourly or force him to drink to avoid hospital. Any child with an auto immune disease will be impacted by lazy, selfish parents. Kids need time to recover and kept off to prevent an epidemic

[Thirdshepherdfromtheleft]

Why do people do it?
They've already taken their maximum time off work, they have nobody else to mind the child and their boss is getting nasty.

They/their child is desperate to get a school prize for attendance.

The child seems fine and they feel guilty running round at home when they should be working.

Do I agree with it? No, and I've seen the damage it causes but I do understand why people feel under pressure and pulled in different directions.

[gingerh4ir]

Those who keep the children at home whenever they are not well (sickness bug or otherwise) - seriously, how do you do it?

do you have an abundance of annual leave or a particularly understanding boss? For this with no annual leave left to take and unable to afford unpaid leave, no support network and a rather difficult boss, it just is incredibly hard and not always possible to keep the child at home.

Other countries give parents a certain amount of sick days per year should child be unwell but there is no such support for parents here. It is shit and tough - for kids and parents alike.

Nobody likes to send a child that is unwell to school. parents are often quite desperate when they go down this route!

[Lofari]

This drives me bonkers! Bugs spread like wildfire but a lot of people don't care and send their child back the day after they've puked.
Sorry, it's 48 hours for a good reason. Our household was recently hit by a bad one that took us all out and I kept mine off for the required time. Luckily nobody else in the school came down with it.

[CuppaSarah]

Yanbu. Dd has had so many sickness bugs this term. She stays home till she's 48 hours clear. She has some very vulnerable children in her class who could end up hospitalized with these bugs. Yet parents send them in sick all the time! So unfair.

[newmumwithquestions]

It’s selfish but I do get that some people are under pressure to get back to work.

We had 6 months where both DC missed 50% of their nursery sessions. I’m not exaggerating.

It included hand/foot/mouth and chickenpox but even so it was crazy - mostly it was bugs with high temperature. Occasionally sickness. I contract so I didn’t take work on so I could be off with them, but if we’d both been working full time (or worse -a single parent working full time) then I think we’d have been tempted to push the exclusion boundaries a bit - especially as in a lot of cases we knew the bugs had come from nursery in the first place!

I have however done it when I confused car sickness with a bug.

[mirime]

@horridhenry64

It's so difficult to get a dr appointment around here so I really don't know what I'm meant to do if they're ill again !

I wouldn't have thought any GP would be pleased at seeing someone with d&v if there was no medical need.

[ADsBadAccent]

DS had an upset stomach yesterday morning so was off school yesterday. Today I called to say he still wouldn’t be in as you know - 48 hour rule. The receptionist said “oh no its fine, just so you know they can come back whenever they feel better”

[Flicketyflack]

YANBU I always try to remember how poorly I feel when I have vomiting bugs so empathise with my two kids.

This bugs spread so easily & 48 hrs is not a long time in the grand scheme if things!

I have heard every excuse in the book tbh

[MaccaPaccaismyNemesis]

Currently sat on my sofa feeling ill as my dsis bought her two sick kids with her to a meal. She mentioned later on that her and her DH had both been off sick with a sick bug the Day previously. They both work for the NHS so should know better. Come Sunday night I came down with the worst of both symptoms. Grim. Why did they come?! My 87year old Nan and 86year old grandad were there, and this could have killed them off!

[ApproachingATunnel]

Because at least in my experience the sickness very often has nothing to do with a bug. My 3 y/o DD has a delicate stomach, e.g. a bit too much chocolate or dinner and she would throw up. And carry on like a perfectly healthy child afterwards. Should i then take 2 days off or engage common sense and judgement? I go for later. If any of mine are genuinely not well then of course i keep them at home.
We kind of forget that kids can be sick for a number of other reasons not just a bug.

[BabyOrSanta]

There's threads on here asking whether people think that adults should go to work because they're ill. Most responses are that the person should still go into work as they'll lose a day's pay/their boss will hate them/they should suck it up.

This seems to be the general culture these days, that you must prioritise work, so I can see why a healthy-looking child might be sent back relatively quickly.

Clumsily trying to say - if you're expected into work when you're puking yourself, I can see why some would send a symptom free child in

[ohreallyohreallyoh]

Because not all of us have friends/family/ childcare they can fall back on and another day off can mean we lose our jobs. By all means campaign for the end of zero hour contracts, employment rights from day one, childcare that takes sick children, easy access to legal services when employers fail to support the parents amongst their staff etc etc etc