To ask why parents bring out clearly ill children for days out

[squiddybear]

Probably going to be shot down in flames!

This week we had a week off and took DS to lots of places - we've always been very very cautious of covid and this was sort of the first time we did lots of things although we did test twice last week to make sure we were still ok to go.

It struck me how many children were being taken out to like the farm park or ceebeebies land who were clearly very unwell. Left to cough all over things, snot dripping down their faces and a few with what looked like HFM or chicken pox. Now I understand that children get ill but to take them to a public place and let them cough and sneeze over everything especially in the wake of covid is just unfair and unnecessary.

For context there was a family we were sitting next too who were there with another mum and child who said school wouldn't have her in but she's fine (said child was pale as a ghost, hacking cough and didn't really want to move!)

I don't understand the logic, if your child is ill then stay at home! Don't spread their germs round to everyone else! AIBU to think this

And any kid who goes to nursery will pretty much have a runny nose on and off until they start school. It is the way…

I’m not staying at home because of that. We’d never leave the fucking house.

Dragging? You are making out parents are forcing their poorly kids out. But if the emotive language suits your agenda…….🤷🏻‍♀️

So much emotion is invested in days out, even more so as almost none were possible for much of 2020 and 2021, that I can understand why something seen as minor ill-health would not stop someone going on a day out with their children.

Oh dear, back to the safe room for you, OP.

If you’re going to wait for COBID to be over before you go anywhere, you won't be leaving your house in this lifetime.

Some of the coughing and sniveling could be allergies, especially at a farm. Every thought of that?

You were kept in for a cold? Do you take time off work when you have a cold? 🤣

Lots of kids will have snotty noses in cold weather without being ill...

If you intend to mix with others outside of the home then yes that's exactly what everyone would be doing, regardless of age. If not willing to do so, then they should be staying at home, preferably for the 10 days. That's the responsible thing to be doing.

Yes like the majority with things like coughs and colds we judge on the child's form. Two preschoolers in nursery, so snot free days are few and far between.

ATM DD2 and I have coughs, because we've all just had covid. Isolated for ten days each (three weeks to go through the family, that was fun) but all long since negative, we're just... Coughing. As is normal after most viral illnesses.

I do think your perception has been skewed by the pandemic OP. Also your memory ( and indeed your parents') of your own childhood might not be accurate - I'm not sure my kids even notice most of their runny noses, they have far more important things to be getting on with.

If you intend to mix with others outside of the home then yes that's exactly what everyone would be doing, regardless of age. If not willing to do so, then they should be staying at home, preferably for the 10 days. That's the responsible thing to be doing

This is absolutely not what we're being told to do. Do you think you get to re write the rules based on your own opinion? Bizarre.

My kid has had a cough for about 4 or 5 weeks. It's not a chest infection, it's hayfever (diagnosed). He sounds horrific when he has a coughing fit, but it's not contagious.

HFM is not something you need to stay home with unless unwell in yourself. You can go to nursery with it.

Chicken pox spots can last several weeks.

@ChloeHel but you are complaining about someone taking their child out with chicken pox! How are other children going to catch it if other children don't spread it? As you say better that you catch it as a child.
Although I understand your situation is not great ie pregnant and not having had it. But that is for you to be careful like you were.

Did you not read my post? I’ve clearly said I have been vaccinated, but it’s not 100% effective so there is always a chance of catching it. It’s much safer to have caught chicken pox as a child than to rely on the varicella vaccine!!!

@ChloeHel
My reading of your posts is that you had one dose of the vaccine, rather than the standard two, so you may not be fully vaccinated anyway.

I don't agree with your analysis that it's better to catch an illness than to be fully vaccinated against it.
In the case of chickenpox in particular, vaccinated individuals have recently been shown to have a smaller chance of developing shingles later in life and to have milder doses of shingles if they do. The chickenpox vaccine wasn't designed to provide protection against shingles, but it now appears getting a milder dose of the virus as a child (as you do when injected with this vaccine) makes it less likely that the virus will reactivate as shingles later on.

@ChoiceMummy blimey! Well you can stick testing sticks up your child's nose for the rest of their childhood...I never have and never will!

@ChloeHel
Wouldn't you have been tested for your immunity to varicella(chickenpox) as part of your antenatal care?

That absolutely has not been a thing for me in either pregnancy. In fact, I only knew it was dangerous for pregnant women to be in contact with someone with chicken pox very recently when it was posted on here on another thread.

Yes. I read it. You had one dose, you are supposed to have two. It’s no one else’s fault you aren’t fully vaccinated. Chicken pox is contagious before the spots appear so if you’re that concerned about it, you should ensure you’re fully vaccinated.

DD has a sinus problem so she often has a runny nose or slight cough. If she was actually ill she’d be at home in bed. She really suffered last year, she had never been ill before she started nursery at 2yrs old. She missed out on a lot of the immunity building sniffles babies and children should be getting.

Okay, thanks, that's interesting. It was a standard test during my pregnancies, but I wasn't living in the UK and that was some time ago too.

Sadly, decent people with this attitude appear to be in an absolute minority.

No they didn’t test me.

Interesting, thanks @ChloeHel. I was tested.

By my GP though, so maybe not routine.

Yes and when I had the vaccine it was only ONE dose needed, I only recently discovered it is now TWO! But because we don’t know which one I was administered as I had it privately they won’t vaccinate me again. So it is neither my fault nor anyone else’s, I wasn’t blaming anyone. I was simply saying I get worried with chicken pox and being pregnant!!

Lmfao it's May 2022 and people are still coming out with this shit?!

If you're CEV you are at risk from lots of things, flu etc.
Everyone I know who's caught covid including myself has actually been fine, I had one day of feeling rough then that was it.
There's now an outbreak of hepatitis in children which they think has been caused by lack of exposure to germs due to isolation.
So Yabu.