Too poorly to go to school?

[roisin]

How do you decide? And do the circumstances (other than the medical facts) affect your decision?

DS2 (5 1/2) was not 100% on Tuesday, but I sent him to school (yr1) anyway with a note saying send him home if he's not up to it. He wasn't, but they didn't. I picked him up and he was wrecked, barely managed to walk home, didn't eat any tea, and was asleep by 5.10 pm.

Today he didn't go, dh had him this am whilst I worked; I had him this aft and took him to the GP. He has an ear infection. (Complicated by fact that he had all his immunisations on Monday.)

Anyway, today he has been a bit brighter, and is certainly borderline. BUT I'm not at work tomorrow, so it's easy to keep him off, it's nearly the end of term, and he does find school exhausting, and I would rather he has another lazy day and then is completely well to cope with Friday @ sch, and to be well for the holidays.

But if I were working tomorrow I would definitely send him to school.

Is this wrong?

I am a hard faced cow tbh. Anthing infectious (other than a cold) and they get to stay home. A temp, stay home. Otherwise if they are breathing they are malingering

Well enough to play, well enoght ot go to school in our house.

No not at all. You, as his mum, know him best. And if you think he'd be better having an extra day at home to be fully better than that's fine. It's not as if it is every day - just the one.

I think that you usually just know if your own child is okay for school or not. Its instinctive almost.

OK. It's just I feel a bit out of step with general consensus here ... Parents here are very proud when their children get a 100% attendance certificate at the end of the year; children not getting sick is just a matter of sheer good luck - not a virtue in my book.

I think most children have the odd day or two each year where really they would be better off at home.

Some children here even get certificates for no days off EVER since starting nursery age 3 and leaving school aged 16!

If they have fever they stay at home from school and nursery, if not I think they are better off keeping busy. They both have on average 5 days when they stay at home each year. Certificate for never being off sick sounds strange.

I think if you have tomorrow off, you should definitely keep him off school for the reasons you give. Things aren't always black and white. Maybe he would manage fine if you were at work and felt he had to go to school, but you are not, so why shouldn't he have a nice relaxing day at home. If you send him, he might get iller. I say this even though I am quite hard on my kids (like hmb). An extra day out of school is hardly going to ruin his education (and I say this as an ex-teacher). My own mother (a doctor and no pushover when it came to school attendance) used to give us one extra day off school after illness just to ensure we were fully fit.

ooh! I'd keep him home, deffo

I would keep him off too. They are all getting really tired by now anyway so will probably benefit him to have another lazy day. My two are tearfully tired.

Oh i'd keep him off.
What with an ear infection AND all the jabs he probably feels awful
Keep him off and snuggle with a video. It'll be a lovely memory in years to come rather than him feeling grotty at School all day!

Thanks all. I kept him off; he was pretty much OK, but I'm sure benefited from a quiet day. We had a lovely day together just doing chores round the house, watching videos and reading stories. I hardly get any one-to-one time with him these days, so it was a really special day;
and all the more precious because of the thought that it was "stolen"

so Roisin you really were exploiting him as child labour?
ah!

they often seem ok dotn they then at lunchtime are rubbisha gain

Oh it's OK - he got 5 pieces of pasta (=25p!) so he's content.

Also got both my freezers defrosted, and the lounge spring-cleaned, which is more than I usually get done of my day off!