Illness advice from school (well.. NHS)

[WhimsicalMoth]

See attached photo ... Did anybody else get this from their childrens school? It came attached to the weekly newsletter on Friday.
It's supposedly the NHS advice, but it seems ludicrous to me that you would send your child to school with hand foot and mouth... and threadworms ???
I can just about understand tonsillitis if it is under control with antibiotics or glandular fever
If they are taking painkillers etc.
but even head lice, I would be inclined to keep my child off until treated for this.
Would you send your child to school with threadworms or hand foot and mouth disease?
And would you be happy for your child to socialise with other children that do have these without your knowledge, at school??

'I would suggest you home school your child, and certainly don't let them near dirt, or grass, or other children at any point. And keep their head shaved at all times.'

So much more rational than deliberately passing on nits

My son was the most ill he's ever been with HFM and a high fever so there's no way I'd have sent him into school. Praying we never have to deal with worms.

Nits are an annoyance. They are not a health threat, or filthy, or a sign of regressing to Victorian times! They're just a pain. there are a few extremely rare occasions where, due to extreme neglect, a child has ended up anemic due to nits. And very certainly not a sign of lazy parenting - sorry, mothering because as we know, it is entirely the mothers job to deal with such things.

Thread worms are more likely to be caught from kids messing in grass or dirt and getting it under their finger nails, and then chewing their nails. Again, an annoyance, but very rarely a health concern.

A: Hi, hope you're still up for play date. Just to let you know, I'm going to pick Chloe up from yours a bit earlier than agreed as she's got nits and I want to treat them

B: Why don't we just do playdate another day?

A: is it because she's got nits?

B: well, yes

A: They're just a bit of an annoyance. No need to postpone

B: I'd rather postpone.

A: That's a bit extreme. Why don't you just shave Eve's head, homeschool and stay home forever instead?

We're not talking about playdates. We're talking about someone who thinks it's an acceptable reason to keep children off school, and calls them filthy, and mothers who send them to school with nits lazy.

Children pick up worm eggs in sandpits, mud etc...they go under the fingernails and child swallows them.
It's not really from person to person contact

Honestly, I would much much rather keep my child off of school whilst they are treated (NOT 2 weeks. Don't be silly now) and do some work from home whilst this takes place.. rather than send them in to cause issues for other families.
Likewise, if there was a letter about worms going around reception.. I would absolutely not want to send them in to socialise with the child/children who have worms. Why is this such a foreign idea ??
Maybe it's because I'm a SAHM....???
But even if working i'd still not want my child to catch illnesses or "annoyances" and pass them to the family or other children. Sorry.

You're still ignoring the point that your child has already socialised and spread headline and worms though before you've even noticed they've got them. Keeping them home is the definition of horse, stable door, bolted.

If a letter goes out to parents saying a child has worms in the class, how long would you then keep your child off for?

What about the other kids in class with worms whose parents haven't let school know?

And would you insist the sandbox/water tray is changed as usually the main culprit?

@MixingPlaydough well I'm not ignoring it at all, as I'd be doing my bit for the other children in keeping my child off to treat so they don't infect / spread to anybody else. What other parents do isn't up to me, but at least I'd be being considerate.

I haven't been in the position (yet) so I wouldn't know... and I'm lucky the school doesn't have a water tray or sand pit. But I certainly wouldn't be allowing said child in a public sand pit as yes, you're right.. they can be the culprit, and they are full of all sorts

Because by the time you're aware of the worms your child will already have infected how many other children.

And not having a water/sand pit doesn't mean your child won't get it. It takes one child to scratch and itchy bum. Then to touch a table. Then another child comes and sits at the table. Touches the same area the first child has, then put their hands in their mouth. Bingo in a few weeks the eggs will hatch and worms will appear.

That's the whole point you're so spectacularly missing, the other children will already have been exposed and likely themselves already have nits and worms. Keeping your child off is just performative and will make diddly squat of a difference to whether they get infected or the nits/worms spread to anyone else.

@MixingPlaydough so that's how it's come about in the first place. Everyone deeming it reasonable because "everyone else will already have it anyway"
What about as a PP has said back in the 80s, there was a nit nurse. It was kept on top of. You wouldn't dream of it

Is it performative to show some consideration? If so, perhaps if there were more 'performative' parents, then there would be less outbreaks of a whole heap of stuff. Some of the class may also have caught anything from nits to hfm to covid, so why keep little Johnny home whilst whatever he has caught is dealt with when we could be making sure he plays his role in making sure even more kids and families get it?!

We can't eradicate all the shitty things that go round schools seems to be the go to response for those who act like they want to maximise the shitty things that go round schools.

If I noticed nits in the morning before school, I would keep mine off for one day just to treat his hair. Nits are itchy and uncomfortable and a reason why a child might get teased. I wouldn't want my son sat in school scratching his head for 6 hours before I could sort it out.
Different if nits are discovered after school or at a weekend when you'd have time to do the first treatment.

So you won't take your child to the beach to make sandcastles?

Nits and threadworms are everywhere, best stay in the house and have zero contact with anyone or outside your door...

That's not how it's come about though. Yes some people will never treat them that's why even with nit nurses they were not eradicated however that's not the point, the point is by the time you notice them your child will have already infected others so treat them and send them in. No fuss needed.

No one needs to keep their child home to treat them, doing so is performative it's simply not necessary. Treating nits and worms takes no time at all and certainly doesn't require time off school.

Yes this is totally what I would do. I think some are thinking that I'd rather do a 2 week bloody isolation!

To be fair you did say you would keep them off for a couple of days which is still excessive. It doesn't take days to treat and comb a childs hair.

Fair enough, as you say no point keeping them off if it's already spread.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/hand-foot-mouth-disease/#:~:text=It's%20spread%20in%20coughs%2C%20sneezes,5%20days%20after%20symptoms%20start.

From nhs website re: hand foot and mouth
'You can start spreading it from a few days before you have any symptoms, but you're most likely to spread it to others in the first 5 days after symptoms start.'

The first symptoms though are cold type symptoms. By the time the spots come out it's too late.

It’s a huge percentage of kids that have threadworms at any one time - many don’t realise. Unless you have checked them with a torch at night time you wouldn’t know. (Scary results once years ago when the mums on my birthboard went off and checked!)

HFM my son had and was poorly - my daughter appeared to get it mildly and wasn’t poorly. I do follow the NHS advice as it stands. They used to send them home with HFM but not any more.