to think the extreme school attendance pressure makes more illnesses go round.

[staydazzling]

so yeah, this holiday has been a nightmare, the Friday they both broke up, both that night started with D&v and of course within 24 hrs so had me and my DH we then sort or recovered to then get worse again and fingers crossed now the worst is over, I spent yesterday shivering in bed raging with fever and throwing up . When I posted inquiring on Facebook the response was overwhelming, also quite relevant the junior and infant is next to each other but seperate so has raged through both like wildfire, one mum has even been hospitalised, we think it's gastroenteritis. These 'epidemics' seem to be happening regularly now though, when I was at school bug season was winter, that was it, certainly not different ones all year round, AIBU??

It's not just schools. I went in our local co-op today, it's small so only ever has 2-3 staff working, and the lady on the till suddenly dashed off in the middle of serving me. I stood there wondering WTF was going on and the supervisor came over to finish scanning my stuff. I asked if everything was okay and she told me that the woman originally serving me has got the sick bug that's doing the rounds but is scared to phone in sick because she got a warning for it last time she had one. Apparently it's fine to work because someone can cover the till while you're being sick.

I've emailed a complaint, appalling conditions to work in and shitty for any customers that catch it. I'm an emetophobic (diagnosed, I have PTSD and vomiting is linked to it) and have spent the afternoon having intermittent panic attacks that I've been exposed to it.

Yes, absolutely agree. No one seems allowed to take times of school or work to get better.

Things spread to everyone, and because people don't rest when they're ill it takes them longer to get over things. Makes no sense to me.

That incident in the Coop is disgusting. That shouldn't be happening in a shop is not acceptable. Surely there's rules about food handling if you have things like D&V?

Extreme pressure? If one of my DC is ill, I just phone the school and say they’re ill. Nothing else happens.

What happens at schools round your way?

These things frustrate me. DH has a compromised immune system due to medical treatment, which he has now been receiving for years and has increased in intensity so his immune system has got weaker and weaker over the years. He won’t just pick up a bug easily, it will also have a much greater impact on him. We’re not obsessive, but we are very careful with cleaning (both in terms of keeping surfaces and such clean, as well as personal hygiene).

We’ve been doing alright lately but it’s a constant worry, when children seem to be in the DCs’ school with all sorts - we’ve had letters sent home due to too many children being sent in with D&V

It does make me wonder if it’s also a knock on from employers not being understanding/flexible with parents, I don’t think all of the parents are super keen to send their sick children to school, but maybe worried they’ll lose their jobs if they take a day or two (still don’t agree with it but sadly this comes up a lot). I’ve had a number of people turn up at work ill (also not helpful!) and I’ve sent them home, they have paid sick leave, but they’ve had managers previously who have told them they have to come in even when ill I’ve also done the same when they’ve had sick dependents but come into work and being stressed, we have a paid special leave policy to help in moments like these, but previous managers have simply said no

What exactly happens if you call your child in poorly? Surely that's the end of the matter

One of the biggest factors in the spread of gastric bugs is the use of shared keyboards. People don't wash their hands enough and they certainly don't clean computer and phone equipment enough.
When people eat at their computers you can just imagine the number of germs they are ingesting.
The till that poor woman in the shop was using will have been covered in germs.

I am immunosuppressed and I carry hand cleanser everywhere with me.
I caught a horrible virus after travelling on public transport near someone who was coughing and spluttering in all directions. No attempt to cover their nose and mouth. Disgusting.

My DC's school is fine but Ive heard of school which tell you to bring in your sick child and the school will decide if they're well enough to stay or not!

There was also a thread recently from a woman who got a £60 fine as the school didn't believe her child was genuinely ill and didn't accept the evidence of a doctor call back or prescription (calpol) as sufficient evidence. Lots of the advice was just shrug nothing you can do you'll have to pay.

that Co-op example is appalling, for the woman and you. We get letters if ours go under 97%, my ds got chicken pox, very nasty chicken pox and was off for a week, also was a lot of black ice the month after (I'm on. foot non driver) rang in explaining I was going to be late etc they were OK then got a letter at the end of the week, I thought you thoughtless arseholes ill not bother ringing next time.

I think a large amount of the problem is probably related to parental leave and zero hours contracts. If you miss work, you don't get paid, so people go to work and spread germs.

And unfortunately, they also send kids to school with "borderline" symptoms, when they might prefer to keep them at home.

I work in an open plan office with 100+ people and there are always bugs circulating. I get ill a lot (probably about 10 colds/bugs a year) but don’t have time off sick. Like everyone else you don’t get paid for the first 2 days in any sick period so people come in snotting everywhere. I am looking for another post.....

There is a TB outbreak (yes you read that right) in a school not a million miles from us. Contributing factor to the spread, the fact that the kids were all in school coughing over each other. Will be interesting to see if the dept for health and dept for education start talking policies as a result...

@minglemangle Like you I work in an open plan office and we don't get paid for sick days. Tbh I don't think it works in their favour coz instead of one or two people getting sick and taking time off everyone gets it and while we might be there in body that's about it. We would certainly not be 100% for however long it takes to recover.

God that reminds me of my first graduate job was one which you could easily do working from home if sick. Even in the office we mainly "spoke" over the internal messenger which you could access from home so it would be clear you were really working. Even after someone had been productive at home while sick the manager would make snide comments when they returned "oh you're looking remarkably well" etc. People ended up coming in sick then getting sent home so they weren't accused of skiving. One guy came in with horrendous D&V. In the 10 minutes he was in he had to run to the toilet twice (and spread it to a few other members of the team).

Attendance certificates don't help. Kids don't want time off because they'll let the class attendance total down.
We always called them 'certificate for not being ill' Once I had to take ds in and get his class teacher and head to tell him not to come in because he got soo upset about it.

Yanbu...this attendance culture has got stupid.

Primary school has 48 hour rule with bugs, secondary does not. Recently DD was feeling under the weather, I sent her in, thinking she’d be fine once she got going. Wasn’t a childcare issue, I can almost always work from home, and it was DH’s day off. DD went to the office and asked to go home they gave her a sick bag. So I kept her home the following day (unwell) plus one extra (as they would clearly not send her home if struggling).

DS caught the same bug, I kept him home 2 days as well, although he thought he’d overslept and was running downstairs to make his bus, I sent him back to bed.

I am lucky that childcare is rarely an issue, if I can’t work from home, 50% chance DH is off anyway, but I am also one of the tough love mums who tends to gee them along.

When DS was in the school nursery, the pre-reception class, he caught every bug going for the first few months as some kids do. Sick bug, really bad cough/cold with a high temperature and coughing until he was sick, he had recurrent ear infections, and got chicken pox. His attendance from September to December was 90.5% which isn't great but was unavoidable and it was nursery so not as if he was going to fall behind with any work. I got a letter from school, co-signed by the chair of the governers, stating that they were concerned about his low attendance due to illness and that if his attendance did not improve then they would revoke his nursery place and offer it to a family who would adhere to their attendance policy! One of the other parents did get her place revoked, her son was absent for the same reasons as DS - catching various bugs - but he was off for more days and his attendance was around 85% so they told her he wouldn't be allowed back after the Christmas holidays.

yes to me it seems obvious the attendance certificate thing is a dubious thing. I always say they are quite helpful as with each epidemic it narrows down the pool of suspects Its mad but im half tempted to send both mine to school with hand sanitiser, fuck attendance percentage, fuck letters, fuck having another bloody holiday of this! how many peoples easter holidays have been completely ruined! ds has just vomited while teeth cleaning :( praying to god its not round 3 of this, ive boil washed all bedding and sofa covers wiped all remotes,disenfected bed frames, farmed some of the washing to my mum, theres nothing else I can do :( having to take it steady myself , still very lightheaded, can only manage a few minutes tops stood up.

I agree about not having attendance certificates and would outlaw zero hours contracts, but turning up for things is a basic life skill, and if it was not for those who take time off because of minor ailments or not taking reasonable care (proper sleep, avoiding bad diet), then perhaps schools and employers would take different views.

I can remember the receptionist at the children’s school getting really shitty with me as ds3 was off school for a week. When i called on the Friday morning to say he wouldn’t be in again she told me I would have to talk to the head and they were not happy about him being off. I felt really intimidated and tried explaining that he was poorly but she said he should be in school anyway.
Later on that morning I got a phone call asking me to go and get my other ds as he was poorly. When we got in there she commented that ds3 didn’t look ill at all and he should be at school. He then threw up over her shoes

It is appalling. There are prizes for 100% attendance at DSs school. He has asthma and is prone to chest infections plus all the usual colds which impact his breathing. So much talk at school around prizes for 100% and he gets really upset when he's ill. It fucks me off.

haha Slazengerbag poetic justice.

I once attended a talk by the school head. They started by telling us that children needed to be off for 48hrs after d and v. The next breath was to tell us about 100% attendance awards. Schools cannot have it both ways.

As for work - I get paid sick leave, but we are only 'allowed' 3 sick periods in 2 years and the disciplinary procedure starts after the 2nd period.