To think parents should keep their vomiting children off school

[Sweetlifeofyours]

Got a phone call off school to say my child has been vomited on by another child. I got a message from the parent apologising (my child and their child are friends) and saying their child was only sick once at 6am and because they felt fine afterwards they didn’t think it was anything serious.

Now is the countdown I guess to see if my DC gets it and (as usual) spreads it around the house. Fuming to be honest! People are selfish. Is it really that hard to keep your child off school for 1/2 days😡

This is a common sense and respect thing, and some people do not have common sense or respect.

Some children are just very vomity, though, and csn vomit for reasons other than infection. I’ve known asthmatic vomiters, autistic vomiters and anxious vomiters.

I would never send my child in if I thought they had something infectious. However, my kid vomited fairly regularly between the ages of 11 & 13 from severe anxiety. Had you seen my child on school drop off, you’d have definitely been forgiven for thinking I was the most feckless parent ever. They were only a risk to themselves.

It does sound like in this case the kid was probably infectious but it isn’t always 100% clear at 815 in the morning. Unfortunately.

Yes, a blanket rule ignores non-infectious causes of vomiting. My DS went through a spell of getting migraines which would cause him to vomit. GP was happy no risk to the other kids but we had so much difficulty with school's blanket 48 hour rule. He missed quite a lot of school over it before they relented - as it happens they were then getting in a state about low attendance.

Totally different if likely to be infectious - keep them off but it shouldn't be a one size fits all policy.

But they miss so much learning, every day counts etc etc. I've had so much grief for DD missing school for legitimate reasons I'd be sending her in if she seemed fine honestly.

Yes they definitely should stay off. It's very selfish. But unfortunately selfishness is encouraged these days.

@Sweetlifeofyoursselfish and horrible parents to their own child. Imagine sitting in class feeling sick and then getting sick in front of the class? I feel sorry for any child in that situation.

in your shoes I would also be really annoyed.

You are not being unreasonable, but I’ve had it twice this year where my little boy has gone to nursery completely fine (no sign of sickness and kept water down ) and then thrown up after his breakfast. I’d never send him if I knew he wasn’t well though!

Let's normalise calling out selfish behaviour. All those parents saying 'oh you can't tell if it's infectious vomitting from one episode, so they would have sent their child in too' are the same ones who claim this whilst the school has been issuing warnings over norovirus, and a quarter of the school have come down with it. It's bollocks. The vast majority of parents who send their kids in know full well they should not be doing so. They are selfish arseholes and should be called out for it.

For the record your child needs to be off school for 48 hours after the last episode of vomitting or diarrhoea. It's not for 48 hours from the onset. If you want to stop it spreading do not use alcohol gel as it does not kill norovirus. Soap and water and proper hand washing are needed. Get a bleach spray and clean all surfaces often including light switches, door handles, doors, banisters etc. Any surface that is touched often. Put your toothbrushes in Milton. Quarantine the infected person to their own room, and if you can, their own bathroom. It's the only way I've managed to stop our whole house coming down with it when one of us has it.

Oh yes, it should definitely be all about your kids' "needs", sod anyone else and the impact you might have on them. Actually, it is the case that after 48 (preferably 72) hours, there is much less chance that a child will be sick or have diarrhoea again, meaning transmission is less likely. You can't make that call at 24hrs. The germs causing gastroenteritis remain in the stool for up to two weeks, so good hand hygiene is essential for that period. But don't you worry now, it's 100% about YOUR children, isn't it? 🙄

For goodness' sake, use your own judgement. Schools are passing on the pressure from Ofsted to parents. It's simply nonsense that isolated time off for genuine illness has any real impact on learning. Don't fall for this nonsense.

Oh I agree, I think it's total nonsense. I don't want the fines though, or the aggro so if they want her in - in she goes.

Utterly selfish, my DC are older now and can make it to bathroom if not a bowl I give them if feeling sick, but I remember the days when they couldn’t make either, and the amount of washing that entails, so if they felt sick or sick bug going around I put a pampers bed sheet at top of bed for them to lie on, if they were sick on it, could just throw it away.

So you're saying we should ignore advice about schooling and make our own judgement about how much education it is acceptable for children to miss but its not OK to use our own judgement about how ill or infectious they might be and we should stick to the official advice no matter what the actual nuance of the situation might be? Great double standards.

I never said this was one of my “big problems” I have a couple of things going on in my life that are bigger actually, but who are you to say what I can and cannot be bothered about?

I can moan all I like, this persons selfishness could potentially make my DC, myself and my DH poorly

Just because it wouldn’t bother you doesn’t mean other people aren’t allowed to be bothered

It is the height of selfishness. Nobody can say for sure why a child has vomited. You can blame it on travel sickness, eating something that’s disagreed with them etc, but you don’t know for sure. Also, some kids can get a bug, puke once and seem fine, and they can then pass on that bug to other children who may be ill for a week. You keep them off when they have vomited regardless of what you think has caused it.

When I used to be a primary school teacher, I’d had a child off with norovirus for a week - he’d been very poorly with it. Then his mum brought him back in and he was green in the face and clearly still really ill and she said “he says he still feels sick and he was still throwing up yesterday but a week is enough time for him to be over it so I’m sure he’ll be fine.” OF COURSE he puked all
over my classroom an hour later. OF COURSE I caught it and was ill and off work for a week and a half (it really was an awful bug that year) and OF COURSE the only parent who complained about me being off sick was the mother who’d brought her ill child in to school and infected me. 🤬

The selfishness of this drives me insane. Mine are no longer primary age but I remember those bugs well. People still sending their kids to school when they have been sick in the night because 'it was only once' or 'they are absolutely fine now' or 'they dont want to miss out on the party/ play'. It was a nightmare, my poor DS caught a bug one year and he was sick multiple times a day for almost a week. He lost so much weight it was scary. He caught that from one of his classmates with selfish parents. I judge any person that knowingly does this, it tells you a lot about their character and none of it is good.😡

I hate it when they say “they were only sick once” DS was sick once in the night last year, then the rest of us in the house started being sick too so it was obviously a bug!

Quite.

I have used my own judgement, and that is that if they feel fine, no fever, pain or further nausea, in they go.

When I had Very Big Problems, it was very often the little things that I moaned about. The big problems were HUGE and all encompassing but normal life had to coexist and the smaller things (like my child being thrown up over at school) were the things that really pushed me over the edge.

You don't know anything about the OPs life, just because this is what they are moaning about doesn't mean its the only or biggest problem in their life!

Just like OP doesn't know anything about anyone else's life. So coming on to whip up her moral self righteousness about a topic and have a pile on is opening herself up to criticism really.

My moral self righteousness? What because I’m not thrilled that my child has been thrown up on and that I think parents should stop being selfish sending their poorly children into school so they can spread it around? Or the fact that the child themselves might actually not feel well?

Maybe look up the actual meaning of your statement

I'm just sitting here gobsmacked at the 7% who have voted YABU.

Who are these people? I hope none of them live near me.

Our school say 48 hrs for a vomiting bug but if it’s vomiting from food, feeling dizzy, car sick etc then send them in.

🤣 That’s what I thought!

I know what my statement means, that's why I used it 😂

Then as a school teacher, perhaps you could lobby your school to stop nagging parents to send their children in at all times and rewarding 100% 'attendance' as the holy grail