AIBU to be worried about my children not being ill over summer - how will their immunity cope?

[Nobbqtoday]

YABU - it’s back to school soon so they’ll get ill releatedly
YANBU - everyone knows it’s great for kids and teachers to keep getting ill - just look at any thread where a parent questions whether this is a bit rubbish

Tongue in cheek AIBU obviously. It’s been great to have a breather from viruses and we’ve also managed to avoid the covid going around. Back to school, continual viruses and being told by randoms sending sick kids in how that is good for them (and me) soon.

Yes, I agree as would most people, it’s good to build up immunity to viruses. You don’t tend to get as many viruses over the summer so I wouldn’t worry too much.

I was being sarcastic!

What are you on about? People get ill with a cold when they get it. And then get better. Not a big deal and not worth fussing about.

They’ll be ill by week 2.

my department used to bet on how long until each teacher got their first cold/flu/bug.
it was never long.

Obviously it's not good for you to keep getting ill.

However as a family we have never been more ill from one virus to the next compared to when schools went back to normal after the pandemic. So I think you are better off gradually being exposed to different things as you go through life, rather than complete isolation followed by a slew of illnesses if that makes sense.

Unless you keep your children in isolation during their holidays surely the season has made more difference than school?

The season makes a difference in that they are outside a lot, but some things are badged as winter viruses (norovirus, covid) when they’re clearly not. We were locked down for one winter where I’m from (U.K.) but nurseries were open that winter, there were children allowed in to school (limited), it was a lot busier than the spring lockdown. Primary schools didn’t have any mitigations other than removing things like in person assemblies to reduce mixing, isolation if covid positive / close contact and not to attend if ill. Oh, and of course the hand sanitiser for an airborne virus! People were still exposed to viruses, just not to such an intense level.

I’m not sure what your point is OP

You’re saying it isn’t actually good for kids to be exposed to viruses at school, contrary to what some say. But what’s the alternative? Permanent lockdown?

It's not a thought that's crossed my mind to be honest. I think a lot of parents keep their kids off for coughs and colds. Unless mine are sick and high temp (luckily very rare) they will be sent in.

Not sure that I understand your OP but it seems to me that there have been more illnesses going round this summer than normal.

I don’t think it’s good for kids or teachers to be continually fighting off so many viruses - not for health or quality of learning, especially when some of those viruses e.g. covid can cause a lot of damage (as already seen in children and teachers). I think it’s extreme. Lockdown is also extreme.

So, I think less pressure to attend when contagious, more ventilation, questioning the need for whole school events such as assemblies when there’s a lot of illness around, air cleaners, sensible indoor air thresholds to help learning and reduce illness, try not to exacerbate spread - that sort of thing.

If we are going to try to make schools as germ pitty as possible, then people should at least own it - own the harm this does to children and teachers, to education, to health, the exacerbation of conditions like asthma etc, not pretend that it’s in their best interests, not pretend that every issue is down to phones and lockdown and that repeatedly infecting them with a novel virus has played no part etc.

Uh... Congratulations?

How ill do your kids get? Mine get maybe two colds per winter. They feel a little sore throaty, snotty and tired for a few days. AFAIK this is fairly standard and not the end of the world. Not “continually fighting off viruses” as you describe.

We already have far far fewer childhood illnesses to contend with than in previous generations, and in fact have seen the rise of some other conditions like allergies and other autoimmune which seem potentially to be linked to the world being too clean.

And agree with PP who noted that there was a huge spike in illnesses when we all went back to “normal” after lockdown - as our bodies had not been exposed.

Given school and govt budgets are already stretched I don’t think spending more on air cleaning and testing or ventilation is a top priority.

I agree with you about the obsession with attendance % however, that needs to go for all sorts of reasons.

I think you are being dramatic. Firstly covid is very mild in kids like a cold, How would you even know they have covid? No one tests anymore there is no need. I don't recognise anything you said. Kids do very occasionally get ill but you don't keep them off for coughs and colds, you need to build thier immune systems up. If your kids are constantly sick maybe you need to take them to a Dr as its not normal.

Edit to add I work in a school I had two days off for tonsillitis last year. Teachers go off for stress more than any illness.

I’m totally confused by your post, but I ‘think I agree’ that no, it’s not good for kids to ‘build their immunity’ by catching every virus going around, it leaves them depleted and vulnerable to the next.

I have a very unpopular view that catching every bug or virus does not keen better health in the long run, this is just something people tell themselves to get through the sh**show that is daycare with small children.

Plenty of evidence that regular hand washing helps prevent cold virus transmission ( and many other viruses). Teach your kids good hygiene and maybe they’ll get ill less often.

As they get older they catch less colds every year anyway.

My kids were healthy all summer holidays and have now been back at school for 3 weeks and are still healthy.

once you get past the pre-school years and early primary the frequent bugs and illness decreases - because they’ve built up immunity.

I ended up with a stomach bug, laryngitis and a chest infection almost one after the other last winter. All required time off, I was really run down and it all got me on a warning from work about attendance. There needs to be less pressure to be in at all costs at all levels. It just spreads things and worsens the problem of absence. Whoever gave me all 3 should probably have been at home but had to come in.

My kids could wash their hands every five minutes, but that doesn’t stop airborne spread!

I could say the benefit of fleeting immunity outweighs the drawback of an average of 1,000 children a week ending up with long covid and the many more that just feel rubbish for weeks and the ones whose parents/teachers now have health issues, but I just don’t see it as a benefit.

I could talk about the cost of opening a window or putting in some air cleaners against the benefits of improved attendance and concentration for teachers and children, but some people prefer that cost to go towards the increased cost of more supply teachers to cover the increased cost of … ill teachers (with mature immune systems).

I agree OP. Catching all these viruses doesn't actually improve immunity, it's quite the opposite. Covid damages the immune system and leaves people vulnerable to secondary infections, as well as all the other long term health problems each infection increases the risk of, in children as well as in adults. We could very easily have hepa filters in schools, which would reduce the spread of infection as covid and many other illnesses are primarily airborne. We could encourage children and staff to stay home when sick rather than this constant push to send sick children in.

Unfortunately that isn't true. Although Covid is usually relatively mild in the acute stage in children, Long Covid in children is becoming more and more common. This is a study from the US, which says: 'Long COVID is common, affecting up to 10% to 20% of children with a history of COVID-19. With almost 6 million US children potentially affected, this is higher than the number of children with asthma, the most common chronic health problem in children.' https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2834486

What?

You might do what my mum used to do, and park each child right up next to a road worker applying boiling tarmac to the road.
He’d be well used to mothers and gasping kids sidling up to his appliance in the Winter months.
The idea was to inhale greedily the roiling fumes of tar, so as to strengthen the lungs.
(I imagine this was accomplished by gradually coating the small lungs with the inhaled miasma of tar, rather like someone smoking Capstan Full Strength for forty years)
The junior lungs would be impervious to any chancer of an airborne virus after that!

😲