Period pain proof required for school sick days

[Amallamard]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly4zd8xp74o

Aside from the utter madness about period pains (which im sure MNers will have plenty to say about), is it just me that thinks a cold can be bad enough to need time off? One of mine was off with a cold last week. They ended up on antibiotics and steroids. In no way fit for school. It's no wonder schools are such germ factories when they insist children should come in when they're ill!

These head teachers. What is wrong with them? They shouldn't be anywhere near education.

I've taken days off work with a cold. You can feel absolutely rotten with a cold.

According to some, covid is "just a cold"!

This obsession with perfect attendance is ridiculous.

Headteachers (let's be honest, 90% of actual teachers won't support this) are not parents and shouldn't be allowed to pretend they're capable of telling when a child is sufficiently ill to warrant a day off. If my child has a cold severe enough to affect their sleep, energy or comfort they're staying off, end of.

How can you prove how much pain you're in? It's not uncommon for someone to be ill enough that they shouldn't go to school (or work, for that matter), yet not ill enough to need medical attention of any kind. In fact, forcing someone to jump through hoops to prove they are ill or are experiencing pain probably only prolongs their discomfort. In a system that's already strained, it's so illogical to create even greater demand!

It's madness. I've got classrooms full of coughing teenagers, using up all the tissues and sneezing everywhere. I teach girls who tell me that they really suffer every month. The Head spoke to us all about "powering through". It's absolute idiocy and we had a union meeting because of staff being expected to come in when ill as well. It's really making me angry.

I’ve never taken a day off for a cold, but my ex always does. That’s not to say I don’t feel rough with it, especially when it turns into sinus, but I can work from home. I went back to work the day after I was released from hospital with acute pancreatitis (have a few days as until a major surgery i got it a lot and was worried about losing my job).

I think for kids at school it won’t hurt. My DD was on less than 80% attendance in year 8-9 due to health issues, and she got 11 x 9’s in her GCSE’s this year. So I have always let mine off if they feel rough.

Good grief. This is where the complete focus on academic progress from y2 to yr 11 has taken us. Ignore the fact that a poorly child or one vomiting due to severe period pain will not be learning, heads just want that attendance.

What fresh hell is this?! I am so glad I don't live in the UK. I often had to 'power through' period pains. The result was that I didn't even realise I was in labour with my first child because the contractions were so easy compared to my period pains. 🙄

The thing is if a girl has such severe period pain it impacts attendance (because painkillers don’t touch it) you would want the parents to seek medical help. But a lot of parents often help girls take time off on PE / swimming days while on their periods because they don’t want them to wear tampons / take medication which isn’t right.

I got sent home from school once after the teacher stopped a lesson to ask if I was OK because I had turned green. It was period pains.

Me too. But I also come from an area of the UK where many parents refuse to let their daughters wear anything other than pads & will authorise absences during swimming / PE days then blame period pain.

This is absurd. Periods can be horrendous, not just the pain but the exhaustion/fatigue, some suffer with headaches etc too because of them. This Head needs to wear a period pain simulator until they realise how difficult it can be to function when you have your period.

It takes over 10 years to get an endometriosis diagnosis in most cases so it's far from as easy as seeking medical help.

I've never taken a day off for a cold, nor have I taken time off for period pain. School is there to educate children but they need to actually attend to benefit. There are illnesses that require them to miss school but in my book it needs to be more serious than above

It all just seems like a massive waste of drs time, if nothing else.

Obviously if antibiotics are needed, you’d have to go to the drs and they’d be proof, but if it’s just a bad cold, why waste their precious time? same as going to the drs to confirm period paid - what does that achieve? You can’t test the level of pain. I guess you could go for prescription pain killers but after that there’s no need to confirm every time.

You know the severity of period pain differs vastly from woman to woman?

I'd save one of the clots my dad regularly passes and send photos to the headteacher.

Dd not dad!

Do you understand that period pain is different for every woman and girl? That some suffer from endometriosis and probably aren't yet diagnosed? Or do you think your own experience is universal?

Endo isn’t the only cause. PCOS is more common (or at least it is in poc) but the only preventative medication (birth control) is often not permitted by many parents. It really, really frustrates me

What isn’t right is to expect girls to use tampons or take medication so they can join in with some crappy swimming lesson.

We spend absolutely years teaching our kids their bodies are their own - what is this crazy shit about tampons and tablets.

Oh what sanctimonious nonsense.

Newsflash: not everyone is you.

If you read a basic medical textbook you can learn about the different pain levels in different people having their periods, and the wide range of normal responses to colds.

You can't force a girl to wear a tampon! That would be sexual assault! I've given birth twice and I can't wear tampons! Expecting young girls who either aren't comfortable wearing them or find them uncomfortable to wear them regardless is barbaric!

Yes, it was PCOS that made mine bad but that wasn't diagnosed until I couldn't get pregnant. Before then the Drs weren't interested.

You do realise not everybody's experience is the same as yours? This is like those who claim period poverty can't exist because they buy one packet of light tampons and it lasts them a year 🙄.