I always keep my dc off school with a sore throat

[Responsiveness]

Just reading latest government guidance regarding attendance- parents are being told to send children in even with a cough, cold symptoms or sore throat ? (But not to send with any symptoms of scarlet fever or chicken pox yet often a sore throat is a symptom of both these illnesses 🤦‍♀️)

I always keep mine off with sore throats ? They can be really painful even without a fever. I will continue to do so as well!

I can understand sending a child in with a tickly cough or runny nose etc but sore throats can be horrible not to mention for some dc with SEN especially ASD the sensory aspect of something like a sore throat and how it impacts eating and drinking / sound of voice/ the cold air in winter making it feel raw etc (my ds has ASD and has these issues every time)

AIBU to think that this latest advice isn’t going to help anyone ? It will just be kids in school feeling too unwell and distracted to learn or spreading germs !

My kids stayed at home if, in my judgement, they were either feeling ill enough that they weren't up to learning effectively, or likely to pass on something nasty to others.

A sore throat can either be a minor irritant or severe enough to make you feel really rotten. I just decided each case on merit, and paid very little attention to the increasingly hectoring "advice" from schools about sending in sick children to keep attendance figures up.

This is what I do. It doesn’t matter what they are poorly with I keep them home if I think they are too unwell to be at school

I think it’s sensible. I’ve had horrendous sore throats where I couldn’t even swallow and mild sore throats that are just a bit irritating. As a parent you make the call based on the guidelines.
so if your child is struggling to drink etc, clearly feeling terrible with said sore throat they stay off. If they’re otherwise fine, send them in.

I do think it’s mad though that teachers are always complaining they get sick because kids come in sick… and then there’s increasing pressure to send children in come what may (I’m basing this on my teacher friends who think that schools are having to be way too heavy handed with this kind of thing now, not just based off my own views)

Maybe it’s my dc - we don’t seem to get mild sore throats it’s either fine or dreadful

I mean surely you just use your judgement - it’s not a hard and fast rule about sore throats. Just depends how painful it is, how they feel in themselves and how the pain responds to pain relief.

my dc stay at home if they feel like shit or if school asks us to keep them home.

'just' a sore throat gets a couple of strepsils in the school bag.

a sore throat so bad dc can't drink - dc stays home.

If I thought my mum would keep me off every time I had a bad sore throat I suspect my sore throats would entirely coincidentally become very bad.

I work full-time. There is absolutely no chance my partner or I could take a day off every time our kids had a sore throat.

In most the time. Dh, myself and Ds seem to have had a constant rotation of coughs, and sore throats for months now. Probably 2.5 months of usually Ds brings something back from nursery, then coughs in dh and I faces all night, and we all go down with it.
Can’t really take 2.5 months off work. Just take it easy at the weekends when possible, early bedtime for me, and lots of herbal tea

It's just about being sensible really, children who are just a bit off colour shouldn't miss school, it's usually pretty obvious if they're well enough to go to school or not. Same as I don't stay off sick from work with a bit of a cold, but will do if really sick like when I felt like death with COVID and couldn't stay awake for more than an hour at a time.
My DD had scarlet fever and she was so ill she didn't move off the sofa all day and had a sky high fever. No way she could have been at school.

I send mine in.
I'm a teacher and I can't imagine parents would be very chuffed if I was off work with a sore throat.

YABU. We all go to work with sore throats, we all went to school with sore throats so kids can go to school now with sore throats. Education is important.

We are like this with colds including me.

My boys also have ASD and both have very high pain thresholds and the inability to lie so if they present unwell, in pain, or they seem unusually ‘off’ (younger is non-verbal) then I’m very cautious about sending them in.

If my older boy says he’s not feeling well he is likely about to come down with something significant as he just pushes through usually.

@TeenLifeMum finally someone with common sense

I suspect there's a correlation with people who will send their children to school with sore throats and people who have to go to work. I think I'd send them anyway, but I definitely can't keep them off for every little thing because I have to work.

They definitely aren’t faking - they always get extremely red throats and hoarse voices and struggle to eat and they love their food !

A temperature or sickness/loose stools were my benchmark for DD staying home. Sore throat? Nope, unless with a terrible cough. Funny how her ‘sore throat’ often disappeared after some warm Ribena (☺️).

Working full time did not allow me the ‘luxury’ of keeping her off with a sore throat.

Well if you feel they are too unwell to go to school then don’t send them. My son had tonsillitis really badly once and it’s not nice and even ended up having to get antibiotics as it was not getting better itself he was just rotten. Also have an asd child who would stay home any chance he got so try to not let them away with not going in for mild colds.

it’s hard but we all need to use our judgment with our kids, kid above is severely asthmatic so a cold can make him really poorly, or he can be fine just never know the cold that triggers his asthma so he’d never be at school if I kept him off.

I go by how my dc feels...so a sore throat on its own I might send them in...but if combined with a fever or lethargy I'd keep them off. I recently got a very snotty letter from the school because my DC's attendance has fallen to 96%! This was from two bouts of viral illnesses where my dc was genuinely unable to be in school...spent all the time at home in bed resting.

This 👆 👆

Another post asking AIBU and when 85% say yes the OP argues she isn't.

You know your kid best- as you said, their throats get really bad. Also I think depends on age. An older teen may be able to make themselves comfortable with lozenges etc while a small kid needs rest and comforting.
if I sense my kid is coming down with something I keep them home to rest and be comfortable- they won’t get behind on colouring from missing school.

I've always kept mine off if they had an illness, sore throat included. All of us get better quicker when we are given a chance to rest. Better a day or two off, than a prolonged period of feeling crap!

It’s irrelevant to me - im not weak willed enough to doubt myself just because 85% of people disagree with me ! That’s just a number. I am reading posts though and what’s becoming clear to me is perhaps my dc suffer with more severe throat issues than I realised - so many mentioning mild sore throats which for us doesn’t exist they are always severe. It’s only making me think perhaps a ENT referral is needed

Both of my DC have sore throats at the moment. DC1 is full of beans and was at school today and I am sure will go in tomorrow. DC2 has been really pale and listless so spent the day in bed, mainly dozing and may well do the same tomorrow. I treat them according to how they are rather than having a blanket rule.