Keep my kid off school so they don’t catch virus?

[fairylightyy]

My DC touch wood isn’t feeling poorly but kids in his class are dropping like flys catching a flu like virus. Lots of school this week and getting sent home.
aibu to keep him off tomorrow? We have a fun weekend planned that they’re really excited about and would be such a shame to catch it and feel
ill?!

It’s just one day off school.

The real reason they push perfect attendance in schools is to socialise the young into British workaholic culture.

It’s totally up to you OP.

Keeping them off tomorrow is really only going to help if this virus has a one day incubation. If they've already been exposed you can't affect when they fall ill.

No! They are supposed to be in school, OP, so don't be so ridiculous.

keeping him home tomorrow isn’t going to make the slightest difference to your weekend plans. He already has it already and will be sick at the weekend anyway or doesn’t and will be fine/will get sick after the weekend if he’s incubating it.

Flu has a 1 to 4 day incubation period depending on the strain of virus. He could catch it tomorrow and be sick by Saturday morning. And just being around other kids who have fallen ill doesn’t mean he has already caught it, otherwise doctors would catch everything all the time.

Just keep them at home, one day won't harm the education and while they were probably exposed, no need to take additional load.

1 or 2 day incubation. Exposure doesn’t always mean catching it.

You’re in danger of making your DC irrationally afraid of germs.

Of course you don’t, what absolute nonsense.

Realistically, he could be incubating the virus already and has been exposed all week to it. One day probably won't affect if he's getting it or not. I empathise though, a vomiting bug is doing the rounds in DDs school again. DD just had it a couple of weeks ago. I'm on tenter hooks waiting to see what the weekend brings. Fingers crossed for us both!

What's irrational about acknowledging that the environment is unhealthy at this moment and homeschooling for a day?

OP said a ‘fun weekend’, not an important event.

Who’s not to say that the child won’t be exposed during the fun weekend, if there’s a lot of it about? Maybe they should stay home until May to be on the safe side.

Because the environment will still be unhealthy on Monday.

Actually, if it is something with quite short incubation period, there is a good chance that whoever should get ill wiill fell over the weekend and Monday will be significantly better.

You're missing the point.

Schools in general are unhealthy environments.

There are always bugs and viruses doing the rounds. It's just something we have to live with and build up a tolerance of.

I honestly can't believe I'm reading this. Of course you send the kid in 🤨

Yes, I would keep him home.

It’s one day.

He can read books at home. He’s not going to miss anything.

The OP says they have weekend plans.

He can get sick on Monday when he goes back to school - after the weekend.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The most paranoid conspiracy theory i've heard in a long time.
Do you wfh?

And every weekend they have something fun planned?

There’s never going to be a time during his school life where there isn’t some sort of bug going around.

A day means nothing in the grand scheme of things. He may already have the bug anyway, but as long as he's well, go for it and make some memories!

As long as you're not not doing it every time something goes around purely to stop him catching stuff, it'll do no harm whatsoever.

Presumably the fun weekend includes some Mothers day activities so maybe lots of people (mothers and those with mothers) should all take the day off tomorrow just incase

My DC went to school if they could get out of bed and walk. You can’t keep a child home ‘in case’ they catch something.

I had (and still to a degree, but less so now kids are older) a real phobia of D and V bugs when my DC were young. There was one doing the rounds one October just before we were about to go on holiday abroad. I was really stressed out about it. We went away and both kids were really unwell, and it was a rubbish holiday.
But they potentially could have got it on the plane, or even from the hotel buffet, who knows...

It’s not so much as keeping him off to avoid every illness. As I said he has good attendance, illnesses are part and parcel of it.

This is just a particularly nasty virus that seems to be really knocking the kids sideways. It’s year 2 age 6.
I did think it’s probably already too late as he’s been exposed all week so damage is potentially already brewing!
Weekend is a one off family event that he would be so upset to miss.

Schools are being incredibly strict with attendance lately so probably not a good idea