Kid is sick, then carries on into family attraction

[Breadandbutta]

I'm just interested in what other people think.
A kid, pale as a sheet, walking slowly, threw up just before the entrance to a family attraction this morning. I'd say they were about 9yrs, with mum/dad/siblings. Not much sick, mostly liquid, so presumably they had a fairly empty stomach. Dad gave the child some water to rinse his mouth and the family carried on into the attraction and headed straight to the toilets. Dad was walking alongside him. Mum didn't bat an eyelid and stayed with their other 2 children.

Aibu to think they should've gone home? I'm just curious as to what others think when they see a kid throwing up in public when about to embark on a half term day out in a busy place with lots of kids! Or is there probably a reasonable explanation for the kids sickness, other than a gastro bug?

My kid can be sick from being coeliac, any cross contamination and they will randomly be sick.

I am awful with traveling and can be sick
easily. Hopefully it wasn’t a stomach bug and it’s unlikely as a kid couldn’t walk round all day if they were that sick

I had car sickness as a child as did one of my brothers. I’d never have opted for not going somewhere! It wasn’t just about me, others must have wanted to go and we usually only stopped to vomit on windy roads, so really long trips on motorways (eg driving to France) long stretches not so bad. I also had one child who possetted constantly as a baby and vomited very easily as a toddler even coughing (he’s fine now) but he’d just be sick and fine 1 minute later, so he may as well go out as he could just as easily vomit at home.

We’re not emetophobes though so I imagine that comes with a lot more anxiety.

I’d have put it in the same category (of unpleasantness) as going on a hike or biking. Legs ache/ tired but collectively the family benefits so I did /my kids just put own discomfort to the side and push on.

A genuine question for those with kids who have travel sickness (or had it themselves)...do most families still plan long trips despite the fact it would almost certainly put the child through a lot of nausea, stress and discomfort.

You have the wrong bar for travel sickness there. Having a child who sometimes chucks up on car journeys to the extent that you recognise the signs isn't the same thing as it being almost certain. I used to now and then as a kid, but it was when the journey was particularly windy. Wouldn't have been anything like guaranteed.

That's awful. Classic in our country where health isn't valued. The NHS literally says:

Diarrhoea and vomiting can spread easily
Stay off school or work until you've not been sick or had diarrhoea for at least 2 days.

Edited to add that I'm not talking about travel sickness, coeliac related sickness, medication sickness, reflux etc. I mean unexplained full on vomiting, even if it was "only once".

My DS was this kid once. It was at that point I realised we’d forgotten to give him his travel sickness tablet. He was fine once he’d got out the car and had some fresh air.

Mine used to suffer panic/anxiety attacks, she would make herself sick- feel better then carry on as usual. Or
it could have been travel
sickness ? X

We drove 10mins to the park today - my DD threw up on the pavement when we got there! We cleaned her up and carried on. She gets sick from the car motion and a minute later (once out of the car) was fine again

The exact same thing happened to us on Wednesday. Our 3 yo was sick in the car on the way to soft play. I knew it was travel sickness so I took her in. Cleaned her up as much as poss and she had a great time.

Are people who say they are emetophobes really saying that their anxiety that they might be sick too, should mean that people who get travel sick need to be isolated for 48 hrs or shouldn’t be allowed to travel?!

👊🏽

Your choice to go there; you choice to expose yourself to germs! Most likely he was car sick

My suspicion would be car sickness. DD1 suffered terribly with this. One holiday we drove to- she was repeatedly sick. Stopped just after we arrived. She was fine- definitely not a bug. She would regularly be sick in the car. MiL was a raving emetophobe and we had to miss many family events as she would refuse to have DD in the house in case it was something catching ( it never was..)

Travel sickness for sure. I get travel sick still as a older adult. Once went on a mini bus to a very posh hotel/spa dived out of the bus as soon as we got there and threw up in a carrier bag.... Turned around to realise I was right outside the dining room where they were all having breakfast 😱🫣
Went in had a drink some mints and a strong cup of tea and I was right as rain x

It doesn’t sound like the kid was sick with a stomach bug or anything contagious or the parents would have looked more shocked/concerned. Their reaction makes it seem like it’s a common occurrence. Maybe car sickness or acid reflux? Some older kids have it. I doubt anyone whose kid has a stomach bug would really take them somewhere like this would they? Quite aside from any concerns about how contagious it is, It’s painful, miserable and they’d be spewing and having diarrhoea unpredictably. That was my experience anyway. You’d have to be cruel and stupid to go on a day out.

Yeah I hear this a lot as well and always baffles me completely 😂 like throwing up 4-5 times is not due to excitement 😂 I do think a lot of it is ‘send them to school out of sight out of mind, let someone else deal with them’ .
& please don’t come for me, I just see it and hear it a lot from parents being so nonchalant about sickness. When I was a kid everyone just had a few days off and no one batted an eyelid - come back to school / work / event when you’re WELL!!!!

No I don’t think they are saying that. It’s the not knowing the reason why someone has vomited in front of you / in public and then carries about their day normally touching things etc !!!!

My very car sick child does this frequently then jumps on Nemesis back to back, with gusto! The child you saw could have had a bug but much more likely to be car sickness mixed with anticipation of the rides.

This would absolutely have been my DDs at that age due to travel sickness.

My DD puked at Disneyworld, we carried on with our day, she was fine, her breakfast got upset after going on a bumpy ride.

We took dc to Legoland about 10 years ago. First ride we went to was the tiny cars. We were in the parents’ waiting area, and a little girl is brought over to her mum as she’s stopped her car and is crying. The mum says “oh no, it’s her birthday, but she’s really not feeling well”. I looked at the girl and she had very obvious chickenpox on her face. What’s worse was that we were all in Legoland an hour early due to staying at the hotel overnight. How on earth none of the staff had said anything was shocking!

I was terribly car sick as a child so more than likely that.especially if the mum was waiting with the other two,who were ok.

If I'd planned a day out, paid for tickets and had multiple kids, I'd be going in as well and seeing how it went. If they were really ill and continued to be sick then we'd have to leave. I'm sure I'll get lots of hate for that 🤣🤣

For gastroenteritis not every time you vomit!

Yes, lots of people.

🤣🤣 Phew. After reading all the replies I must have missed it.