Be honest - what would you ACTUALLY do in this situation?

[ChampagneTastes]

Friends with a lovely, sensible mum at the primary school where DS goes. This morning she told me they'd got there early because her DS had been coughing all night. I gently suggested that perhaps she should get him tested and she said it was fine because her other son had had a cold the previous week. I pointed out that Covid seems to present differently all over the place and it might be worth checking. But I didn't do anything else. She's lovely, has been one of the more cautious parents at the school and is generally sensible but I can't help feeling she's got this one wrong and I don't know if I should do something. And if I should - what? The boy has gone into school today.

I'm glad my child is beyond the age of this but from when he was 4 through to about 7 he pretty much coughed from October to April. I'm glad I haven't got everyone looking at me sideways with a coughing child.

It is far more likely to be a cold than Covid and to be honest, I think you did the right thing not pushing it.

Rely on school to send him home.

@DenisetheMenace

No I wouldn’t. Why is it up to me to deal with other dc health?

It’s between school, student and parents“

Oh, so I’ve completely misunderstood the “all in this together” messaging of the past year. If another parent is too careless to think of other people, damned right I’d let school know. However “lovely” they might be 🙄

Yeh right. You call up at every cough you hear and feel great about yourself

I hope you get the chance to feel the glow of in it together soon.

She’s not lovely or sensible if she sends a child who was coughing all night into school. Needs kept off and tested.

@WeIcomeToGilead

I’ve kept mine off yesterday for exactly this reason

Today neither of us can breathe properly and we’re awaiting results

So glad I was sensible 😇, I’d feel terrible if the test were positive

Hope you all recover quickly. To be clear, my DS is not vulnerable and I have sent him (not sure if that was the right thing to do either). I'm more concerned because I know that staff members have vulnerable relatives. I'm really surprised at her tbh - she has a vulnerable family member and when the kids first went back, her's were the only ones wearing masks/shields. I don't think it's stupidity, it's just everyone is so weary that people are slipping.

She did say that she would test so I will leave her to do that - I don't think I can reasonably report to the school but have asked a governor to suggest that they reiterate the guidance and encourage teachers to send home students if they have any concerns.

Honestly bloody curtain twitchers abound.

I hadn’t really thought about other people saying this on here but now I see why.

@MarshaBradyo

I’m surprised at all these phoners

Apart from anyone who does as Hazey does. I can see how that could work.

Maybe it depends on awareness of vulnerable people. A girl at DS's nursery has bad asthma issues, a little boy round the corner has leukemia, a friend is a pregnant teacher... All fine with low cases and people being sensible. But if people aren't sensible then I would prefer to let the school handle any situation as far as their remit allows to protect the vulnerable.

MRex do you mean you would phone? Or just let them handle it

And I certainly wouldn't report any one-off cough. Coughing all night is not a one-off though, it's a persistent cough like we've been told needs a test.

I'd tell her I thought he needed a test and if she sent him in I'd immediately tell a teacher or call the office.

Honestly bloody curtain twitchers abound
Its hardly curtain twitching not wanting a child coughing everywhere in school

@XiCi

Honestly bloody curtain twitchers abound Its hardly curtain twitching not wanting a child coughing everywhere in school

Why do you think the school won’t notice if he’s coughing everywhere?

Why do you have to get involved

I wouldn't do anything

I wouldn’t do anything but I’d think she’s a bloody moron!

Why do you have to get involved
I'm not involved its a hypothetical. I said I'd call if my child was vulnerable and I'd do this because I'd want to do everything I could to protect them against fuckwits like this. My own child got covid because another fuckwit thought her dd only had a cold and sent her into drama class. Fortunately her symptoms were very mild.

Nothing. Not your business. AT ALL.

@XiCi

Why do you have to get involved I'm not involved its a hypothetical. I said I'd call if my child was vulnerable and I'd do this because I'd want to do everything I could to protect them against fuckwits like this. My own child got covid because another fuckwit thought her dd only had a cold and sent her into drama class. Fortunately her symptoms were very mild.

Do you the basic lack ability to extrapolate?

Yes hypothetical question 🙄

If your child isn’t vulnerable why keep saying you would if they were? Does that mean you wouldn’t if not.

The op’s child isn’t vulnerable

It's difficult. I'm so worried about ds going back in, that it has made me hyper aware of things like this, that could put him at higher risk.

I'm seeing similar situations play out on ds's class chat (mostly over people thinking it's ridiculous their child has been sent home for coughing/temp....then doing a lateral flow and thinking that's enough to send them back in)....and at my work, where families are sending kids in with symptoms, refusing tests and having bloody birthday parties (which is why I haven't been to work for a year and have ended up having to leave my job!)

Sending a child to school with a cough is ridiculous in the current climate. If a parent told me their child had been coughing all night, I wouldn't care what a nice person they were, I would tell them they shouldn't be there, that they should be at home booking a covid test. And of course it would be my business. No curtain twitching here, when the parent would have made it my business by telling me. And it would be my business that my child was about to share a space with a potential covid spreader. I would take my child home and I would tell the school why.

I'd tell the school.
I'm sick of the whole thing and people who are determined to prolong it.

@XiCi

You can’t really ring up and say child x has been coughing all night If I had a vulnerable child in that school I would call the school without a shadow of a doubt and say I was concerned as I was told he had been coughing all night. Its putting teachers at risk too. Dsis is a teacher and has a rare lung condition that would make getting covid really risky. And then you have arseholes like this sending their kids in with a cough.

Years ago DS was immuno compromised due to medical treatment. He missed a lot of school due to his illness and was finally having a good run of feeling ok/bloods not too bad. A parent told me that their child had been unwell in the night but wanted to go to school, so they'd taken them in! Did I tell the school? Yes I bloody did. This parent didn't give a monkeys about the impact it could have on DS (who would have been hospitalised if he'd become ill) or the other child in the same position. The school dealt with it, a reminder letter was sent out about illnesses etc

It's rubbish if your child is unwell, and annoying if that means you miss work etc, but I really wish people would think of others. DS missed enough school without us having to keep him away so that an ill child could attend because they didn't want to miss out..

It's one day, do the right thing!

You have to wonder about the sense of sending in a young child coughing all night.

Honestly though I'd probably just given a stare and turned on my heel. Don't particularly care how pleasantly people present themselves at the school gate if they are silly when it matters, it's all fake sugar puffery.

If your child isn’t vulnerable why keep saying you would if they were? Does that mean you wouldn’t if not. Do you the basic lack ability to extrapolate?
I think its you thats hard of thinking. Or do you just not care that even if your kid is ok there will be others in their class that won't be so lucky?. I would absolutely call if my child was vulnerable because guess what, that would make them more vulnerable to serious illness caused by idiots sending symptomatic kids into school. As it happens my child isn't vulnerable and the OPs child isn't vulnerable but others children will be.I would have told the parent their child shouldn't be in school when we were talking at the school gate as I have stated previously.

If a child is in OPs class and coughing, it is very much her business. Comments such as curtain twitching etc are ridiculous. It probably is just a cold, but it might not be which is why there is testing. It's a PITA, yes. However, it is a selfish attitude to assume sending in a coughing kid doesn't affect others and it's a bullying mentality that shames someone for raising a concern that could directly impact them.

@XiCi

If your child isn’t vulnerable why keep saying you would if they were? Does that mean you wouldn’t if not. Do you the basic lack ability to extrapolate? I think its you thats hard of thinking. Or do you just not care that even if your kid is ok there will be others in their class that won't be so lucky?. I would absolutely call if my child was vulnerable because guess what, that would make them more vulnerable to serious illness caused by idiots sending symptomatic kids into school. As it happens my child isn't vulnerable and the OPs child isn't vulnerable but others children will be.I would have told the parent their child shouldn't be in school when we were talking at the school gate as I have stated previously.

So you wouldn’t call? Just talk to the parent.

Great 👍