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!

How are they even expecting that to work? Would all the girls need to get a doctors note on the off-chance that ne month they might bleed more heavily and their pad not last? Or are they expecting them to see a doctor exactly when their period starts and have a doctor perform some intimate examination to confirm its heavy and receive a note?

What a complete waste of NHS resources. You don't need to be a doctor to know girls who have been through puberty have periods and at some point will need to change their pad/tampon/period pants.

Exactly! The vast majority of parents don’t WANT their child to be off school. When my child is off it’s an absolute pain. Any parent who works will know that ringing a child in sick is not something we do lightly!

Parents and girls have every right to decide what goes into their bodies. If they don't want to use tampons that is their right.

No one should be forced into wearing tampons so they don't miss swimming/PE.

They shouldn't be penalised over the methods they use to manage something natural that they havnt chosen to have.

The world won't stop if they have to miss those things once a month at school.

I'd be happy to help my child sit those out at those times if that's what they wanted.

My poor mum had such bad periods when I was younger that I have memories of family days out where she’d have to leave to go and lay across the back seats of the car whilst we walked around with our dad because she literally couldn’t bare to keep standing. Sorry but the mindset that women and girls should be expected to be in school and work, or as one poster has suggested, a swimming pool, in those conditions is inhumane. It can be completely debilitating when it’s bad.

Whoop de doo.

What's with this thread?
Has no one got an imagination and no one can maybe see that your normal isnt everyone's normal.

Some women have really really bad period pains.
Some people are ill when they get a cold, see nearly every man alive.

Going to a GP for proof of these things is beyond mental and a huge waste of resources.

Well if they want proof I guess they won't object to used sanitary towels being slammed down on teachers desks will they.

I'm joking but it actually is ridiculous. No absence due to periods but also no kids allowed to use the loo in lesson times. What kind of a world do we live in?

There's always one who thinks they're the default human body and all illnesses and health conditions can be measured by their experiences.

It's because of the amount of school days missed because of period pain etc has greatly increased in recent years. It seems now that some parents will let their children stay off school for things that in the past, wouldn't have been a reason to stay off. Head Teachers and teachers know that sometimes a cold or period pains can be bad enough to mean staying off school, but because of so many staying off when they don't really need to there are having to come down hard.

I mean I was kind of joking too but now I'm thinking if the girls are brave enough why not.

There's no point in poorly kids being at school. Some parents keep their kids off school for pretty much anything, but I think it's more common for them to be sent in when really they would be better off at home. Kids with a cold can feel horrible- they learn very little of they feel lethargic, have a fever, a headache, a streaming nose and are coughing and sneezing excessively. The number of times I've had to chivvy up kids who are crying, wingeing, falling asleep, have flushed faces or shivering and clearly unwell. The headteacher hates sending kids home too- they have to be at deaths door before parents are called. It's ridiculous!

Then maybe they should look at why more girls are struggling with period pain??

I have endometriosis which developed when I was a teen. Would they like to see the contents of my underwear, tampon and pad?

Sickening.

@mitogoshigg you sound a bit basic. Can you not see anyone else’s point of view, hear their experiences? Ever? It’s very weird

Ofsted for Neale-Wade:

Number of pupils: 1303
School capacity: 1708
35.8% of pupils eligible for free school meals.

Inhumane bastards. Some of the worst times of my life, being forced to sit on a hard uncomfortable chair at school lessons whilst feeling like my body was turning itself inside out with pain and my thighs had turned to lead.

Congratulations. How lucky for you that it wasn't so bad to warrant time off.

You do realise not everyones cold or periods are the same or have the same pain tolerance levels right?

Some people have it worse than others.

My ex (male) boss let me have a day off once for period pains, even suggested I drink milk with cinnamon as that's what his wife had to help with period pains.

Schools are ridiculous these days. If my daughter's ill, she's not going to school. Say they have diarrhea if you have to. I hate it all, I think it's cruel.

Well, from the very start my periods were horrendous. The pain was so severe that I'd be unable to move from the fetal position, let alone stand up and walk. It would cause dizziness, I'd regularly throw up and flood through pads in 15 minutes. Numerous doctors appointments just to be told that this was 'normal.'

I was finally diagnosed with endometriosis at the age of 46. Stage 4 and ravaging through my pelvic area. But hey, you were ok so sod everyone else!

Definitely overreach by the school. But it is in a rather deprived town; I wonder if there are higher than typical levels of fake reasons given for absences and they are trying to correct this, admittedly in a rather misguided fashion.

You honestly haven't a clue.

If you don't suffer from endometriosis or PCOS, you have no idea. It's in no way comparable to a standard period.

It's dismissive attitudes like yours that contribute to women with real gynaecologist issues not being listened or having delayed diagnosis.

Heartily agree. Their stats mean more than a child's health and wellbeing.
Just awful.

It’s amazing considering how long it takes to actually get a gynaecology referral for teenagers in the Uk. If you get one at all the waiting list can be YEARS. For some girls , and I know some, their whole lives are blighted by heavy painful periods and the only solution offered ever seems to be ‘go on the pill’ .
Children are barely allowed to use the toilets at school these days, let alone having to explain why you need to go mid lesson.

Yes their bodies are their own. If they don't want to take meds/use tampons then that is their right, but the poster was stating that their parents are stopping them from using them in 'their area', which is very different to girls making a choice.

The poster I was replying to said...

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.

So yes they are suggesting that girls should do these things

I used to be in so much pain with my periods, I'd throw up several times a day. You think someone in that state should go to school? That they'd be able to even concentrate on a lesson?

You cannot make a girl wear a tampon.

No way no how ever. Never ever ever would I accept such a dictat from a head or anyone else in the world.

So it's been a failing school for years and their answer to the problem is to make life difficult for the girls as if the failures are down to them?