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Original poster

To think people want to wrap kids up in cotton wool now?!

106 replies

Beforeorafterchristmas · 12/12/2025 14:48

I just saw a video on Instagram where some woman was ranting about “kids being made to come into school ill” and how we should all just be allowed to stay at home when we have the sniffles or whatever.

My kids have a cold every 10 minutes. When are they supposed to go into school? When am I supposed to work if they’re always off?

Honestly, I feel like more and more people want to wrap their kids up in cotton wool and it’s going to mean zero resilience for any of them growing up.

Am I just really old fashioned or something?!

OP posts:
DefaultUsername001 · 14/12/2025 08:19

Sounds more like the issue is around the impossibility of parenting like you don’t work and working like you’re not the default parent. It’s about logistics not building resilience.

Agree kids can be a bit snotty for weeks but basically be fine, but if little kids don’t want to play and just want to rest, they need to rest. Harder to tell with teenagers.

Kirbert2 · 14/12/2025 09:36

Wildbushlady · 14/12/2025 08:10

I just wish our school would make their minds up.

An email was sent out saying that the children would be rewarded every day for the next two weeks for attending. So sweets one day, a hot chocolate treat the next, a movie, some pizza etc. To encourage everyone to go in and keep attendance up.

Halfway into the first week, a second email was sent out. Please could parents not send their children into school when they were unwell. As they were having many cases of illness in the school.

Ds developed a fever on Monday night, then became very unwell and was off for four days. It was a pain with work, but no way could I send him in when he was that unwell. He could barely move off the sofa and slept all day.

I recieved a third email. The school was worried about ds's attendance, and they felt his absence could negatively affect his academic future. Did I need support to send him in?

I just ignore the school now, they can never seem to keep what they want straight. Either it is ok for children to be off when very sick, or it is not. They can't have it both ways.

On the class WhatsApp there were mothers worried because their dc were so upset at missing out/getting a blemish on their 100% attendance that they were begging to go in to school even when they had been vomiting. And some were sending them in.

This is a reason why I hate attendance awards.

Not to mention how ableist it is for the children with chronic health issues, disabilities etc who have regular appointments and will never hit 100% attendance.

notcomfortable · 14/12/2025 11:08

ThatCyanCat · 12/12/2025 15:53

What wasn't the way you were brought up (and why was the way you were brought up so infallible?)? I can't see any issue in what she's saying. I don't think she's suggesting we all take to our beds as invalids if we have a slightly runny nose. Your OP suggests that if your kids were kept off every time they had something slightly off, they'd hardly go in at all. Is that true? Are your children really low level ill most of the time?

Show quote history

Not the OP but yes
My 4 year old has had a cough and runny nose since Halloween
She's on her second ear infection, despite antibiotics, proper hand washing, hand gel, and remembering to clean touch points in the house

I couldn't take a whole month off work until she felt better

I have three other kids who are also spluttering but I only started my job in July so I'm still in probation period, it doesn't look great if I'm constantly off

Autumn38 · 14/12/2025 11:49

Beforeorafterchristmas · 12/12/2025 15:50

It’s just not the way I was bought up and I do feel like since Covid there’s this whole group of people who want to keep their kids at home wrapped up. It’s no good for socialising, no good for immune systems etc.

my mum never made me go into school if I felt ill. She used to let me stay in bed and brought me soup and my dad would buy me chocolate on the way home from work. It made me feel like my wellbeing mattered and that I didn’t need to put other people’s needs above my own, just because. I’m a pretty successful adult with a great career and a lovely life. I married a man who brings me soup and chocolate when I’m ill, because I knew that I was worth that.

i don’t send my kids to school I’ll, because they deserve to rest when they need to.

GMV42 · 14/12/2025 13:46

Totally agree with you op. I worked full time when my children were growing up. If they had something minor wrong with them I would say ‘well go to school and if you get worse I will come and pick you up’. As they loved their 100% certificates in secondary school they had to be really really ill not to go in. Set a good ethos right from the start!

TheEveningSun · 15/12/2025 21:02

izzyme · 12/12/2025 20:43

When I worked in a school the rule of thumb was if the child was running a temperature and was obviously unwell, the child stayed home. On the other hand if the child was just a bit under the weather with say a sniffle or runny nose the child goes to school and the staff will monitor and would phone home if child became more unwell. It worked well in my school.

It’s a non brainer really, sometimes a runny nose and then cough lasts for weeks. Obviously I wouldn’t keep them at home if they’re running like crazy around the house. If they have fever during the night I wouldn’t send them to school just let them rest at home otherwise it would just prolong the illness. It tends to happen 3 days per year for us so we’re lucky. Fever means the body is fighting an infection and needs to rest.

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