Moving child due to sickness

[bearandbee87]

Constant sickness at school would you consider moving year two child very small village school pretty cold there no central heating but electric lots of sickness constantly

Lots of schools are germ pits

There's lots of sickness in all schools it certainly wouldn't be a reasonable reason to move an otherwise happy child.

It’s very common for children to be nearly constantly unwell up to age 5/6 years. They’ll outgrow it. Hold tight.

No as that's normal for primary school. You won't find it different anywhere else. Even at high school often the sickness bugs spread like wildfire.

The only thing that would concern me is if they got food poisoning. And I'm pretty sure environment health would be concerned with that also.

No I wouldn’t move for that reason alone. Generally kids grow out of it by about 6/7 when their immune system is a bit more mature and their basic hygiene improves.

No that’s absolutely unhinged

Oh andtry getting children even high school children to wash their hands properly isn't virtually impossible.

We had hand gell dispensers outside every classroom during covid, but we couldn't make them use them unless they wanted to.

No. Kids of that age will get ill everywhere and poor heating doesn’t make you ill - germs do. The school heating won’t be that bad - the school wouldn’t be allowed to open if it wasn’t heated correctly.
Focus on building their immune system in the way that you can control - a good healthy diet with lots of fruit and veggies, encourage them to drink lots of water so they stay well-hydrated, a decent amount of physical exercise daily - even better if it’s outside - and give a good quality multi vitamin everyday.

You would just be moving to a new set of germs, so more illness. Anywhere with lots of young children indoors will be fairly germy, they’re poor at washing hands, using tissues, not putting fingers in their mouths etc.

Have you considered what you could do to improve your child’s immune system first? It’s also worth talking to him more about hygiene and how germs are spread. If he’s constantly got his fingers in his mouth it up his nose then he’ll pick up all the bugs at any school.

Any other school would be the same. Instill good habits such as using a tissue, washing hands frequently etc. but, even with this, they will still catch whatever is going round. As a teacher I used to catch loads of things although I was pretty robust and healthy generally. Since I retired 10 years ago I think I've only had one cold.

Are you suggesting the school is cold and that is why they are all getting sick? How cold is it? It's not ideal if a school is very cold in winter, but I would hope the heaters are reasonably sufficient?

Colds and sickness comes from germs and viruses. They do not come from being cold, outside with wet hair, outside with no coat, having wet sleeves. Colds and sickness comes from the spead of viruses and bacteria.

As a teacher I know that most children have very poor basic hygiene. Picking noses, chewing pens, minimal handwashing. I’d focus on making sure your child has good hygiene, eats lots of fresh fruits and veggies and takes a multivitamin. If he/she is otherwise happy I think you’d only get the same issues in a different school.

No. It's normal and likely to be worse at a bigger school. They'll soon be immune to lots of stuff. All of mine were like that at that age.

I’d look at improving their diet. More fruit and veg and maybe a multi vitamin. Otherwise fairly expected.

This! Too many people believe you catch colds from being cold; no you catch colds from other people spreading germs. There are too many adults too who don’t even wash their hands after using the toilet.

As a teacher I agree that schools are full of germs. Schools insist on pupils being in when ill so that their attendance doesn’t suffer. Concentrate on a healthy diet and a vitamin supplement.

Did your child go to nursery? Or preschool? As if they didn't this is all very normal! The first few years they'll be catching all the bugs..
But it does get better!

My kids went to a tiny village school. They both went to preschool too, but were still ill for most of reception. Schools are festering germ pits and unless you are going to stop your child from socialising for the rest of his/her life, there is nothing you can do about it. It's a pain when you need to work/have a life/hate seeing your child poorly. I remember it well with both children and it was tough. Just recently someone shared a memory of the local newspaper class photo of my daughter's reception class, and of course she wasn't in it because she was off sick. But they will catch all these bugs, and the nits, and, worst of all, the bloomin threadworms, at some point. Filthy creatures, the lot of them!

DS has been at nursery and pre school for almost 4 years.
i have to give it to him - chickenpox is the last time I remember him being ill, and illness has definitely not been constant. I can’t for the life of me remember when he was ill before then.

it does sound more like an immune system thing than anything else ?

My mum was convinced that my son's nursery was very germy as he was constantly ill too.

Turned out that he had huge adenoids and tonsils. The consultant said that in his case, bugs that wouldn't badly impact many kids would be more severe for him. Perhaps there's another factor for your DC that is similar to this?

The heating has nothing to do with the rates of sickness. Primary schools viral illness centres. It will get better as your child gets older.

Yes, however if you are constantly in a cold area your body is more vulnerable.

I do agree with PPs though, the school itself isn’t the issue.
if you feel that your child is getting sick more than what would be the usual amount (I think they say around 8 colds in a year), I would be questioning my child’s individual immune system itself and looking to check if there is anything underlying there.