To be annoyed at parents who don't follow the "keep your children home for 48hrs rule if they have been vomiting"

[Ripeberry]

This morning a little girl in my DD1s class came in early (for a change). She is reception and was basically left to get into school on her own from the car park.
But she told the teacher that she was sick all day yesterday and last night.
The reception teacher was NOT happy as our school has a rule that kids MUST stay at home for at least 48hrs after symptoms stop. The parents are aware of this but they chose to drop and run.
Anyway, the school may ring them anyway but it's annoying as there is a sickness bug going around and this little girl is going to a swimming party tomorrow with my DDs.
If they all start coming down with it, then the Easter break is going to be pants!
AB

and again you dont know the after effects of some child getting another child's bug that could have been prevented

shoshe - I had no idea about the no swimming for 2 weeks rule! thanks for the info as my dc are recovering from a tummy bug and we promised to take them swimming next week! Will def give it a miss for a bit longer.

BYU I didnt and I am a CM of many years standing who takes her mindees swimming everyweek!

Yes, the Eureka dad was quite something, notalone. I have been to Eureka since (feeling I really can't blame Eureka for a tosspot Dad), but it has taken some doing!!

I do take the point about the minimum wage, but so many parents send sick children in to school when earnings aren't an issue. My DS goes to an expensive (certainly by our standards!!) prep school, so the chances are there's no parent there on the minimum wage - yet they still send their children in with d&v. The most recent Newsletter reminded parents yet again not to send children to school until 48 hours had passed since the last episode... Do these people really need reminding???

My boss did pull me aside once and say that if my children were sick that I would have to get some sort of cover, this after dh, ds1 and ds2 were all sick at the same time! I had to point out to her that I had nobody, MIL worked at the time, my Mum was 3 hours away and would come up at the drop of a hat but 3 hours was 3 hours!And the nursery would not take them, end of! She did accept it when I explained this but I know of several people whose jobs would be on the line if they take an unexpected day off with no notice.
I did bring ds2 into work once when he was sick and I had no cover but it was only for an hour. It turned out to be quite handy as a patient who is normally very stroppy was very well-mannered. Think he didn't want to flip out in front of a 2 year old!

Our school doesn't have a specific 24 or 48 hour rule I don't think. I send them unles they are obviously ill. I know someof you will hate my attitude, but if they have been sick before midnight and they really seem OK I would be likely to send them in.

If they are defineatly sick or really feverish then they don't go in, although they have been known to go in with a temperature if needed.

I did feel bad one time when dd2 went in, she insisted she felt OK, She was fine at the CM in the morning before school then was sick on teh path going ino school. I came home sharpish!

However in my defence He hadn't been sick teh day before, she had slept badly, had calpol in the morning and felt fine. The sick came later.

DD's school doesn't have a rule either. I use my own judgement.

I can see your point Crunchie but they may still be contagious even if they have no symptoms. I used my DS as an example in my previous post. His symptoms of a bug came and went in 20 minutes. Myself and DP were up all night and it was horrible. Bugs spread so quickly, especially in schools where kids are in close contact. I think any kid who has been sick should be kept off for 24 hours minimum

my point there was she hadn't actually been sick, so I sent her to school with a 'bit of a tummy ache' and she was sick on teh way. How was I supposed to know. In the end we were all really ill, but not with tummy bugs, she had slapped cheek and then a post virus rash all over her boy.

Ours is 48 hours, and as others have said, it's for a reason. It's all good and well saying they don't seem sick after 24 hours but how do you actually know whether they're contagious or not? You don't is the simple answer.

If you can't look after your children when they're sick then it's just not right, work or no work and whatever circumstances you're in as they are your children and your first responsibility is to them.

We have had bug after bug and are currently ill again and have been for over a week. All over easter they've been ill and ds1 is hardly eating a thing and looks awful. Back to the drs with him tomorrow.

I had a d&v bug about a month ago as did the rest of us, I hate being sick and am almost phobic about it too. We've been ill seemingly non-stop for months.

Dd is in yr 1 and it's been the same since reception. She's had loads of time off and so has ds1 from pre-school. They have very good diets usually and eat lots of fresh fruit and veg so it's not that that's making them prone to sickness.

I agree with you Jodie, just because they seem ok doesn't mean to say they aren't contagious.
I'm with you on the responsibility thing as well, if you can't look after your kids when they're ill there's something wrong, when you choose to have kids your whole priorities change and they are ( or should be) your first priority.
I do understand how awful some employers can be regarding this issue, my employer don't give a toss about your circumstances and want you in work no matter what, but i would never put them before my DD no matter what.
Plus, when kids are ill they only want their mum anyway. It's not fair to dump them at school or whatever just coz you can't take time off work. Poor things feel ill enough without being dragged out.
Sorry you're all feeling poorly again. Hope you all get well soon. x

I didn't mean to cause offence Crunchie. I wasn't talking about the recent scenario you gave. It was in relation to the sick before midnight rule as they could still be contagious. In the example I gave my DS was right as rain literally 20 mins after the bug but it floored DP and myself for a couple of days. If you know what the sickness is caused by eg too much coughing, 100 % certainty re food poisonning then fine, but any unexplained d & v could be contagious even if the symptoms are not severe on the DC.

Hello Wiggleit. How are you??? I am feeling a bit shortchanged this weekend. Am really mssing that extra hour!!! xx

Jodie: "If you can't look after your children when they're sick then it's just not right, work or no work and whatever circumstances you're in as they are your children and your first responsibility is to them.". Wiggle, I believe you also said the equivalent.

Hang on there. I don't think anyone says they will send their children in if they KNEW the child was poorly. Of course our first responsibility is our children. And that means keeping them at home to recover if they are poorly. Therefore, I believe my nose is clean according to your high standards.

What you are advocating is not just keeping children in when they are poorly. But to keep them in for up to 48 hours after the symptoms have stopped - because children could supposedly be contagious for that time. That has nothing to do with whether the child is feeling poorly. My child could be rudely well after an incident and he was for a full day whilst I sat at home with him getting bored at home. I felt completely justified in sending him in the next day. Under your scenario, I would have had to spend another 24 hours with him at home to be considered to have "put my child as a priority", which is patently OTT.

Like I said and few others have confirmed this, dd's school does not have any 24/48 hour blanket exclusion policy. So it is by no means a universally accepted fact that a child is contagious 48 hours after they are well. That must surely depend on the bug and the child. I don't buy the abundance of caution argument.

Human beings have an immunity system for a reason and that system needs a work out to be on top of viruses. That includes recurrent exposures to low grade infections. I may be imagining this, but it seems that those people with the greatest fear of diseases, dirt and infection seem to fall ill the most.

Thanks wiggleit, getting there slowly

Blue - as stated, the drs say this for a reason, I bet the reason why we've all been ill for months it people sending their kids to school ill still.

Looking well and being well are two different things, being "rudely" well, whatever that means, doesn't mean they aren't contagious.

jodie, as far as I know, the D&V bug has not been in ds' nursery for "months" or even for anything other than a 1-2 weeks here and there, which is completely normal for a nursery. Ds got it once recently.

I am not aware that there has been a D&V bug in dd's school. She has not vomitted in years - I could be wrong but certainly can't recall.

It could that our perceptions are different due to my more robust attitude to falling ill as just a fact of life. After all, what does not kill you makes you stronger. Mind you, my dd was born with a severe heart condition, and even then, the only time I took a pre-emptive approach to catching bugs was the day before her scheduled open heart surgery when she came into contact with some children with wet hacking coughs in a store.

Perhaps your phobia plays a part in your perception of how often your family is ill or how prevalent this bug is?

I'm just waiting for ds to come down with this bug AGAIN. When i picked him up from nursery on Fri 2 of the kids had projectil (sp) vomited all over the place. The kids were playing in pre-school with the bigger kids and the room (and toys) were being sterilised
All because the parents had sent there kids in when they were sick

While I agree that the 48 hour rule is a good rule unfortunatley there are and will always people who don't adhere to it.

But ds was sick at school on wednesday last week, he went to school feeling fine, and was sick in the afternoon, he didn't go back until today.

Since then we have heard that others have gone down with the same thing.

I sent him to school well, he came down with it whilst at school, it really annoys me that people assume that because chidren are sick at school they must of been feeling ill before they went in.

Spoke to the mother of the girl who came into school ill and she was annoyed that the teacher said her girl should not have come in.
Her excuse was that, "my daughter was feeling well, if she got ill again, then they should ring me. If i kept her home they would have complained about poor attendance"
So that's it then. It's the schools league tables.
Surely there should be a way of not counting sickness as an actual abscence?
AB

Very often the child will dob themselves/thier parents in, however, by saying "well, I was sick last night, but mum said I'd be OK for school." Thanks, Mum. How would you feel about coming in to clear up the mess all over the classroom floor?

I think the current bug is a quick one. DS2 was fine all day yesterday, said he felt a bit funny at tea time then within half an hour was throwing up everywhere. DS1 (who I think probably caught it directly from him as they don't really go to the same places) joined him at 3am.