Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

School trip and 48 hour rule FFS

51 replies

raisinsinmysocks · 12/03/2019 11:50

Okay, just a rant. I know I'm not being unreasonable.

But my DS (6) has a school trip today. Another mum posted on the class WhatsApp asking what the rules were for phoning in sick as their child had been sick Sunday night and they wanted to keep them off 48 hours as per the rules.

People replied with the info and said sorry the child will miss said school trip.

Then the mum replied to say her child was really upset about missing the trip and they were going to send them in anyway as they'd only been sick once and fine since Sunday. She even apologised if anyone got sick!

AIBU to be really, really pissed off about this? It's just beyond selfish IMO.

OP posts:

VladmirsPoutine · 12/03/2019 13:00

Why was she so vocal about it. I'm not condoning her actions but seriously why?

BlueEyedBengal · 12/03/2019 13:02

I have 4 children home with it. The first last Thursday sick at school. The second was Friday sick at school and sent home, just been sick again so won't be seeing school till Thursday I think. The third was yesterday sick at school and hasn't stopped. The forth was this morn but he was sick on last Friday sent him in yesterday and he was sick again overnight. Just phoned the school and had the secretary snidely asking me wasn't he off Friday with the same thing? Is she a doctor I ask. Again 48 hr rule. 2 were seen by the g p and he didn't want to see them but did a prescription for sachets for their sickness. Just goes to prove how quick it spreads through a household doesn't it?

beenhereages1 · 12/03/2019 13:07

@VladmirsPoutine - I had a "friend" announced to me that she was sending her daughter back to school 24 hours after several bouts of sickness as the child wanted to go back. They'd decided it wasn't a bug- a doctor wasn't consulted.

My son was currently on chemotherapy so immunocompromised. Our friendship suffered massively on the back of it

Some people just don't really care!

mastertomsmum · 12/03/2019 13:08

I think mothers usually know best. If it happened on Sunday and not again since then a trip on Tues is fine.

MyDcAreMarvel · 12/03/2019 13:11

Our school Mark chikdren down as unauthorised if you don’t send dc back after 24 hours.
When my dd sick in school they gave her a bucket and kept her in school. I thought she was lying until I phoned the school!

MyDcAreMarvel · 12/03/2019 13:11

She was only six!

ItsNiceItsDifferentItsUnusual · 12/03/2019 13:13

I always stick to 48 hours even though it's massively inconvenient (work in a school, v difficult to take time off so it always falls to dh).

Since dc2 came on the scene he regularly proves the 48 hour rule as he seems to relish being sick again around hour 40-47

10IAR · 12/03/2019 13:14

I missed precious time with my dying mother because DD and I caught a tummy bug from a feckless arse of a mother who decided her need for peace and quiet trumped everyone else's need not to catch a fucking bug.

I still can't look her in the eye.

Vixxxy · 12/03/2019 13:14

YANBU. A lot of parents at my childs school are like this, some even admit to sending currently ill children in and hoping for the best as they will get in trouble for taking time off work. As such, there are always endless bugs going round the school and the overall attendance rate is dire. Where if the ill ones were just kept off, there would be less illness.

FuckertyBoo · 12/03/2019 13:15

A friend of mine has three at the same primary school and they have just recently changed their policy to 24 hrs instead of 48. It isn’t always 48 hrs.

That said, I wouldn’t have sent mine on the trip... especially since the school policy IS 48 hrs.

BettyDuMonde · 12/03/2019 13:18

My son was currently on chemotherapy so immunocompromised. Our friendship suffered massively on the back of it

I sympathise - my daughter has a rare autoimmune disease. It’s currently in remission but she picks up so many germs in school that she hasn’t managed a full week yet since September.
Home today, fulfilling the last day of the 48 hour rule!

MyDCAremarvel - my kid wouldn’t able to to attend your kids school! Just as well really - they’d have conniptions at her attendance record 😬

georgie262 · 12/03/2019 13:25

I always thought it was 24 hours for sickness and 48 hours for diarrhoea- not particularly relevant my info must be out of date. Depends on the sickness though - everything makes my youngest sick as she’s still a bit refluxy. I used to always be sick after parties as a child. As a mum you know the difference. If the child has been alright since Sunday I’d think it is very over cautious to keep them off today even if it hasn’t been exactly 48 hours exactly. It has almost

MyDcAreMarvel · 12/03/2019 13:28

@BettyDuMonde I do not know how they get away with it. A “ simple” bug can put children with severe health conditions in hospital.

thedisorganisedmum · 12/03/2019 13:29

It pisses me off so much, but so many parents do it. They just won't tell you.

He's only been sick once last night, he's fine to go to school this morning, I have to work you know.
He's only been sick once last night, but he didn't want to miss the birthday party.

and so on.

Then you wonder why the sick bug goes round the class and school. Selfish idiotic lazy parents, it's what they are.

One such mum was moaning recently because it's the 3rd time her child has caught the bug. I feel sorry for the child, but it's karma for the parents, if she hadn't sent him back too early, others wouldn't have caught it and gave it back.

doIreallyneedto · 12/03/2019 13:35

@raisinsinmysocks - He was fine, had eaten too many raisins. But to be 100% sure, as I know there are families with pregnant mums and newborns, I kept him off 48 hours.

While I do agree with the importance of keeping children home if they have been sick, I think you were being a bit ridiculous there. A bit of cop-on in interpreting the rules is important. If you know, based on previous history etc, that your child is reacting to a certain food, then you don't need to keep them off.

One of mine used to throw up quite regularly (he could even do it on demand) as he had a loose stomach valve. I knew when he threw up due to eating too much, too much activity on full stomach or unfamiliar foods so I never kept him off in those circumstances. If I was in any doubt, I kept him off, even though our school did not have a policy.

Ellie56 · 12/03/2019 13:36

I used to work as a TA in a school where parents thought nothing of sending obviously sick children in.

One year we had to close down twice so environmental health could come in and do a deep clean, because so many children were off with a sickness bug as a result of all the ones who had had the bug earlier, and then come back too soon and spread all their germs round. Bleurgh.

RomanyQueen1 · 12/03/2019 13:46

This used to drive me mad, so selfish.
it's doubtful at that age the trip would have been too far for the parents to take them on another day.
Awful for the child too if they are still unwell.

Cuppaand2biscuits · 12/03/2019 13:48

I have reported to school if I know someone has sent in a child that has been throwing up all weekend. Monday morning poor exhausted looking child is being pulled through the school gates.
It's not fair on the poorly child, never mind the staff and other children.
If the parents are planning on sending them back to school too soon they really should keep the vomiting quiet.
It spreads so quickly, especially amongst the infants.

VladmirsPoutine · 12/03/2019 13:48

@beenhereages1 good thing the idiots eventually weed themselves out.

IHopeYouUnderstandWeArePuppets · 12/03/2019 13:50

Gosh, this thread has made me realise why some people ignore the 48 hour rule - they think it’s there for the benefit of the person who vomited, in case they vomit again.

To be clear - that is NOT why the 48 hour rule exists. It is 48 hours clear to reduce the risk of passing on the bug to others. So arguments like “mother knows best, my kids would be fine to go back to school after 12/24/36 hours” don’t work at all. It’s not about your kid, it’s about not passing the bug on to others.

thedisorganisedmum · 12/03/2019 13:51

It’s not about your kid, it’s about not passing the bug on to others

but that's exactly why they don't care, others are not their problem.

IHopeYouUnderstandWeArePuppets · 12/03/2019 13:54

And also, “sometimes you know the difference” between excited party vom or whatever doesn’t work either. You don’t know for sure.

I remember sending a kid with very loose stools home from school once, his mother was very cross and was quite vocal about it only being excitement. She came in several days later and apologised, he had been ill all weekend. It was good of her to apologise.

ShannonRockallMalin · 12/03/2019 14:16

My DSs secondary school do not follow the 48 hour rule. It’s in their absence policy. In a way I’m ok with this because my son has a condition where he often has diarrhoea but it’s not due to a bug. But I presume this means it’s not obligatory for schools to enforce the 48 hours.

nokidshere · 12/03/2019 14:26

It's a minefield to be honest. One bout of sickness in 24 hrs does not necessarily denote a bug or virus.

A friend of mine has a son who suffers from severe migraines and always throws up when in the middle of one. Even with a letter from the Dr it took her years to get school to accept that he simply wasn't ill.

Some schools have a 24hr rule and some 48hr after one bout of sickness in the past 24hrs. This would imply that the guidelines are arbitrary. All of our local secondary schools are 24hrs, again showing that there is no definitive rule.

And, whilst I personally would err on the side of caution, I can totally understand some parents frustration if their child has thrown up after a party on Saturday afternoon, spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday running about as normal clearly well, but unable to go to school on Monday.

There are a great many reasons why children are sick, it's not always so cut and dried.

nokidshere · 12/03/2019 14:27

Oh, I meant to say, as a childminder I follow the 48hrs guidelines.

Flip

1 2 3

Swipe left for the next trending thread