The dreaded email from school - tummy bugs going around

[StarlightIntheNight]

Am I being unreasonable to wonder why the heck it seems impossible to go a school year with out receiving this kind of dreaded email - emetaphobe here, so I dread when there is a tummy bug going around. Growing up, I rarely ever was sick. And yes, there were no emails to be sent, as during my young school age this was before emails existed, but we did not seem to have as many things going around - lice, worms etc. I remember only two occasions the class being checked for lice and I made it through until now never getting lice. And growing up sickness bugs did not seem to happen often really. Or maybe I just did not notice it....(bc it was not happening in our family!).

Anyway, is it possible that children do not always get the tummy bug when these sort of emails are sent? My poor DD had it in nursery, reception and year 1! My DS manages to avoid them most of the time (he must take after me!).

When these emails are sent, do you shrug your shoulders and assume your child will not catch it (because they usually do not). Or is it the case every time these emails are sent, its most likely they will?

These emails drive me nuts with worry about my kids catching it. Its actually worse for me as I waste time worrying about it...silly I know, but can not help it as its a phobia.

There’s sadly not much that can be done. Some people theorise it is because we now clean ‘too much’, raise our children in a house covered with anti-bacterial etc so don’t expose them to germs early on.

Sickness bugs and nits were rife when I went to school all those years ago. I remember my secondary school actually having to close at one stage because gastroenteritis had invaded and too many staff were off with it.

I just hope for the best when I know it’s going round my DC’s school. Tell them to wash hands and try not to touch door handles or other people too much. Haven’t had a stomach bug in the house for a couple of years which has been a welcome relief and weirdly my youngest DD (6) has never once been sick.

Outranked, wow that is so lucky! How the heck does that happen - child not being sick once and age 6!? When you hope for the best, do they usually not catch it? Wishful thinking here...that we can hope for the best and make it through :) There was already a tummy bug going around the start of the school year that we managed to avoid (I could not believe the miracle we made it through!). And now again....hoping we make it through again. I tell them to wash hands always before eating and after using toilets. They know all the ways to prevent, as my phobia has made me very careful. Although, the first few years I was very relaxed and let them get loads of bacteria lol....hard to prevent them putting things in their mouths as babies :) And we have a dog, so I have relaxed a lot because they are always hugging and kissing the dog...whose is definitely dirty ! As she plays in the park every day. lol.

I don't really know tbh. I am 34 so went to school during the 80s and 90s. I remember being sick only once and that was from food poisening. I don't remember my friends ever vomiting either.

Sorry, I meant OutPinked for above, silly auto correct...

Grubs mummy, yes, same age as you and I was only sick during my school age twice (age 6 and 17!). I also NEVER was good at washing my hands...just rinsed with water after using the toilet and never washed before eating foods...it was not until I had children that I started being vigilant with hand washing.

We get them also. I dread the thought of it and hope DS doesn’t catch it. We’ve been lucky so far but the law of averages dictates we’ll cop for it sooner or later. I’ll deal with it as and when but the thought doesn’t fill me with joy.

as for the emails themselves, well it makes no difference whether you get worried by an email or not, if your DC are going to catch it your DC are going to catch it regardless of the email, so if it’s going to happen it’ll either be with warning or without warning, and the warning makes absolutely zero difference to the fact.

We used to get these emails and I usually used to get the tummy bugs. I got lice, worms, tummy bugs, chicken pox, repeated ear and throat infections etc.

My sister, however, never caught them. Chicken pox went round her class twice and she never caught it (still hasn't had it)
She had lice once as a baby before she even went to school, worms she hasn't had and tummy bugs, again, one as a tiny baby (just two weeks old, caught off me) and maybe 2/3 times in her life but never around the time when we got the emails. The only thing she does usually get is a cold, but not usually anything serious.

I was rarely sick as a child and have only had one stomach bug as an adult, caught from DC's.
I am also scared of being sick for which I blame my mother who was terrible at dealing with us. Think surgical scrubs and gloves, bleach everywhere, basically full hazmat protocol! I think she is scared too. Have had to force myself not to get hysterical, although I think I've managed that quite well considering.
My DC'S are rarely sick and the eldest is really laid back about it. One night I smelled a weird smell and went into her room. She had sat up, puked onto the top of her duvet and then just laid down and gone back to sleep. I couldn't believe it!

Anyway, is it possible that children do not always get the tummy bug when these sort of emails are sent?

I think that that just depends on so many things - half of it just chance, and a lot of it outside your control (other parents sending kids back in to school when they're still unwell would be one example). I'm also an emetophobe so I totally get your worry when you see an email like that though!

Obviously teaching your kids good hygiene will help but I do think some people are just more prone to sickness bugs. When I was a child, my two little sisters and my mum would get every single sickness bug going and all be upstairs ill in bed while my dad and I were downstairs feeling right as rain (and a teensy bit smug about our ability to stay well!)

I am an emetaphobe too. My children had stomach bugs 3 times during the whole of their school life. I am late 40's and only had a stomach bug once as a child, aged 14, caught from my DM. I am sure the reason the bugs did not go around so much in the late 70's & 80's is that children were kept home from school when ill. Now parents send them to school unwell, and the schools are not without blame either with the sickness policies.

This kind of email would fill me with dread too OP so I totally get how you feel. I feel like at the moment there’s so many more bugs going round but I think the reality is that people share every tiny little detail of their lives on social media so we just hear about it more. I’m nearly 30 and have had 2 sickness bugs in the last 10 years. DH has had 1 and DS has had 1 (although he’s not a year old yet!) I think if you’re not prone to them, you’re not prone to them

I was a child in my 60s and remember it being very rare for kids to get sick. And nits were also very rare. I had never heard of anyone having lice except in history lessons.
But sunburn, mouth ulcers and boils were fairly common.

I suspect it is luck, although washing your hands reduces the chance of getting it. Soap and water is much better than anti bacterial stuff by the way.

Yes, that is true. I think we are alerted to it more often as people write on FB, emails get sent out or even outbreak articles in the daily mail lol. And as a emetaphobe, I tend to notice these things more. ARGH! Sucks.

We don't seem to get the sickness big emails, just the regular nit letter.
I'm currently dealing with flu type virus mark 2, having just recovered from mark 1. Kids have sailed through, barely ill, I'm suffering.

RayRayBidet , I assume your mom must have had a phobia as well? I literally do the same - gloves, facemask, bleach etc. But thankfully, I manage to contain it to the person who is sick doing this method. I also wipe the house like crazy - door knobs, light switches etc (if someone is sick a tummy bug - basically any time someone vomits, I treat it as a bug).

As for the nits, there is a child in my dd prone to them I think, as we literally get several emails a year and at one point last year we got a notification EVERY SINGLE week for the first term about nits in the class! My DS it was just once or twice a year the letter (and he is younger, so I think its just the bad luck of someone prone to it or a few kids prone to it in my DD class). Luckily we have never had nits in this household...although, I am fine with nits (they are disgusting of course, but I can handle that!).

@StarlightIntheNight
Yes and what my mum achieved was making me terrified too.
I understand your feelings, I am also scared but I want to break the cycle and not pass it on to my DC.

I don't mean to sound nasty BTW sorry if it comes across that way

Never had an email about tummy bugs. We get them about nits and worms.

Like you OP, I used to dread the sickness bugs doing the rounds but I was always really lucky and none of my 3 caught them, apart from once when my eldest had just started school. Don't know what I did differently to anyone else but they really were healthy growing up - in fact, my youngest, now aged 18 only lost 2 days in her entire education to sickness and that was in Reception for impetigo!

It's very much luck of the draw as to who gets bugs and who doesn't.

My oldest never catches anything. She's managed not to miss school for illness in the last 10 years. She's even had times where her form's been down to single figures due to a sickness bug and she hasn't got it.
I was like that as a child-I missed 1/2 day of school in secondary school.
However dsis caught every cold/flu/sickness bug going-and that was a lot. We were at the same school most of the time.

Nits definitely went round as much at primary level as they do now. It is more common now at secondary age, someone told me that was partially due to selfies-people sticking their heads together to take them.
But my school didn't alert for worms anyway so you wouldn't have known it was going round. I know I had them-I was convinced they were baby tape worms as the only sort I'd heard of. I didn't tell dm because I didn't want to kill the babies.

I don't think bleaching everywhere etc does make that much difference. I don't bother and in all the sickness bugs (including norovirus once) we've never passed it round the family.
Dsis (who does madly bleach) finds that if one gets it, the whole family gets it almost always.

I don’t think it’s inevitable that most kids get this . My siblings and I never had a vomiting bug growing up and I have never had one as an adult despite working as a nurse . Eldest dd 21 has had it twice and dd 17 has had it once . Some kids are just more prone than others . These thinks spread on door handles and taps etc so I have always told my kids to avoid touching toilet door handles and to use alcohol hand gel before eating etc .

@RayRayBidet totally get what you are saying, but unfortunately its too late. My phobia is strong so I can not hide the fact that I freak out etc. But I have learned coping mechanisms to be more calm and these include being prepared etc. So for example if my dd is not well, I have a mat in the bathroom (big bathroom, the size of a small bedroom!) on the floor with a blanket and pillow. She has an iPad to watch etc. I basically make her as comfortable as possible while she stays next to the loo.

I understand, it takes every ounce of my strength not to freak out and run around screaming.
It's horrible.

@Witchend, what does dsis stand for? Perhaps her family catches it all the time because her genetics are more prone to it? I think growing up my family rarely ever had it because of our genetics. I did read something about that once that some lucky bunch are just less likely to get it. I am hoping my dd was a late bloomer for this and that she can now avoid it....again wishful thinking. My son seems to definitely take after me.