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Original poster

48 hour rule

38 replies

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 04/03/2020 16:25

PLEASE follow the 48 hour rule and don’t send your children to school within 48 hours of them vomiting.

DH and I have Tickets for Book of Mormon tonight... been looking forward to it for ages.

However, this morning a child vomited on my feet. He had vomited at home but his Mum still sent him in. When I called her she was quite cross as she was in a coffee shop with her sister and wanted us to “just send him back to class until I’m finished”. While I was trying to explain that he wasn’t “absolutely fine” he threw up again...avoiding the bag he’d been given and getting another staff member instead. Despite copious handwashing and wearing gloves while I cleaned up his vomit, I’ve been throwing up now since 3 o’clock so will be missing the show (DH is taking a friend so tickets not wasted) and I won’t be in work tomorrow to help with the World Book Day trip to the library. It’s possible that the trip won’t go ahead if another member of staff can’t be freed up.

There really are reasons for us asking you not to send your children into school when they’ve been sick, PLEASE don’t do it.

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Changemyname18 · 04/03/2020 18:17

OP I am sincerely hoping that the mother (and her sister after hugs at the coffee shop) are throwing up violently now too. Wishing you better soon. Would be interesting to know if kid turns up at school again tomorrow? Do schools have the right to impose 48 hour absence when they know child was sick at school, and so turn away child during that period?

Haworthia · 04/03/2020 18:20

Someone will be along soon to say your illness will have had nothing to do with this child and it’s just a coincidence.

But YANBU. One of DD’s friends was sent to school with the shits. I only found out when the mother complained she wouldn’t drink the Dioralyte. When I said “But... she shouldn’t have gone to school” she just said “it was only twice!”

A couple of months later she sent her son to school and cheerfully mentioned that he’d vomited the day before. He was sent packing. Oops, I forgot, she said.

People are selfish pricks.

Phillipa12 · 04/03/2020 18:33

My oldest son was turned away from school once as he was only 42 hrs clear of sickness. School were apologetic as they knew other children were not being kept off for the 48hrs and because i had been honest.

Cookiecrumble887 · 04/03/2020 19:11

I totally agree. Drives me mad. At Christmas my friends son started throwing up Sunday teatime. Monday morning he had the shits. Tuesday morning back at school. I kept my child off for the the last two days otherwise Christmas would of been ruined. She tried to say she thought it was good related. Then Tuesday night she went down with it.

Then just before Feb half term. A girl on my FB announced on Saturday night she had a sickness bug. Her two girls had it too. She showed a picture of her lucozade and said how horrendous they all were feeling. Monday morning her child was at school. Tuesday morning she was holding hands with a kid in my DD class taking her to school. I was worried for the rest of the week but thankfully we didn't get it.

It's so selfish. I don't even think 48 hours is enough. You often need 3 days to even start eating normally again.

I hope you feel better soon. Parents surely don't want to collect a vomiting child from school. Id never want my child to throw up at school. If she did I wouldn't have any idea she was ill and I'm the sort to be really cautious with tummy bugs anyway

Get better soon x

Original poster
BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 04/03/2020 19:15

Someone will be along soon to say your illness will have had nothing to do with this child and it’s just a coincidence.

And they may be right. The two other children from his class who vomited after lunch (not near me) were probably a coincidence too...

Some of these bugs are actually spread BEFORE vomiting starts but however it has spread I probably have caught it at school and as well as missing the theatre this evening I have a book day costume that I’ve worked hard on and won’t get to wear. I’m actually feeling a bit better now but I won’t be going in tomorrow as I won’t risk it. Can’t remember the last time I had a day off sick 🤢

OP posts:
Original poster
BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 04/03/2020 19:18

Do schools have the right to impose 48 hour absence when they know child was sick at school, and so turn away child during that period?

We often do....

OP posts:
Marnieboo82 · 04/03/2020 20:09

It's the sneaky parents that have a puking kid Sunday then send them Monday. Or the ones that only wait a day until they go back.

Although I do also think schools don't help themselves. My child is just turned 5. She has had 6 days off from September. One for travel sickness on the way to school. 4 because I kept off with bad colds and coughs when she was feeling absolutely terrible and one was the school sent her home with her bad cold.

In January I get a letter to say her attendance is 92% and to warm me they like it above 95%. She had a fairly rotten cold a month ago and I dosed her up and sent her in. Felt terrible for it. But we can't risk it. She's not had any days off since December but I dread anything else going wrong before easter or she will drop again. I think we are back up to 94%

Norestformrz · 04/03/2020 20:17

It's annoying when parents send ill children into school (but with pressure to maintain 100% attendance I can't help thinking the government and LAs are equally to blame ) Even more annoying when they refuse to collect a vomiting child and keep them home. However the reason we have a 48hour rule is that the incubation period from exposure to showing symptoms is 12-48 hours so you probably picked up the bug from the same person who passed it to this child.
Hope you're soon feeling better x

Starbuck8419 · 04/03/2020 21:25

@Norestformrz very true. Some schools even count each individual day off as separate incidents of being sick rather than marking it down as one batch and therefore the kids and teachers get reprimanded for having lower attendance score.

Hope you feel better op

PRL73 · 04/03/2020 21:28

People who ignore this rule give me the absolute rage

I often stomp around work telling people they’re arseholes for coming in. You can’t really do that at your work though 🤣

Hope you feel better soon and sorry you missed your show

karmi2010 · 04/03/2020 21:49

Can I ask a related question please? I am actually quite worried about this - my DD is at nursery now and starts reception in September. She very often has vomiting as a reaction to fever, and would always have it if I give her calpol or nurofen (in which case she would sometimes have diarrhea as well). This is just a body reaction, I have the same.

So what do I do when she starts school? If I keep her at home for 48 hours every time, her attendance levels will be 80% if not lower - she gets cold quite often and reacts with fever and vomiting while otherwise being absolutely fine.

karmi2010 · 04/03/2020 21:52

Just to add - DD would get small fever with everything, including the stomach bug so it is difficult to understand straight away if her vomiting is a reaction to a cold or a stomach bug...

IKEA888 · 04/03/2020 21:56

Hope you feel better soon.
It's awful and parents don't seem to get it and why it's so important..sounds like another child came back Monday still infectious and passed onto these three children and yourself..
and now this mum's selfish act has spread it further

CadburyFlake · 04/03/2020 22:13

.... don't forget the category of parent who like to blame vomiting on a bad cough.

Fucking idiots. If a cough is so bad it makes a kid vom surely they should be resting anyway.

CadburyFlake · 04/03/2020 22:15

I know coughing can innocently cause vomit but it's over used as an excuse.

Giroscoper · 04/03/2020 22:19

I was at someone's house on a Thursday night with a group of women from the school playground, the host's son was sick that night, we were all witness to hearing it and yet she sent him into school on the Friday. Her reason? She wasn't going to miss her Friday morning Ikea breakfast.

Myself and another parent reported her to school but when they phoned her she denied it so he remained in school. Brilliant.

Original poster
BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 04/03/2020 22:28

I wasn’t actually at school on Monday or Tuesday as I was on a training course. Ill check our attendance figures for those days when I’m next in.

Just waiting for DH to come home and tell me how great the show was 😫

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rc22 · 04/03/2020 22:32

I've had a little boy from my class asleep on the floor with a raging temperature only waking up to puke. The little boy's sister said, "Oh yes mummy was really cross this morning when he was sick on the carpet but she told us not to tell the teachers because she's going Christmas shopping today."

Comefromaway · 05/03/2020 12:09

Oh that's awful. Honestly some people are SO selfish.

I do hope you get to see BOM some time soon.

TheVanguardSix · 05/03/2020 12:20

My head combusts when I come across these parents. It's so unfair. And even if you don't get the bug, how utterly lame for this little child to have to wait while mum finishes her cuppa while puke dries on your shoes. Arrrgh! I am raging on your behalf, OP!
I worked in a school and of course, there were kids who came to school fine in the morning and by afternoon were sick in the hall. But I've had so many kids coming to school feeling sick, complaining about having vomitted once in the night but mum/dad insisted they come to school. Then we'd have mum or dad pick them up. Lo and behold, they'd be back the next day, feeling sick again after lunch, then they'd finally get sick again, go home, rinse, repeat.
The irony is that when I stayed home 2 days with my vomitting kids, the school I worked at gave me such a bad time. I was called into the office for a 20-minute meeting and at the end, I was asked to assure them that the next time my children had any sort of illness, I'd have care in place. I left that job. If my kids are going to pay homage to the porcelain god, I'll be the one wiping their mouths and getting their illness, not some child-minder.

Original poster
BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 05/03/2020 12:39

I've been in touch with school. Mum DID try to bring child in but was turned away. My colleague who also got "sicked" on started vomiting about 8pm last night and another who helped with the clear up also started vomiting last night. Trip for the Year 1's to the library has had to be cancelled.

DH said the show was fantastic! I'm feeling much better today. Thanks for the good wishes x

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midwestspring · 05/03/2020 12:59

I will say that schools don't help with the emphasis that they put on 100% attendance, special awards and days out etc.
It can mean dc are reluctant to stay at home and parents don't want to get into trouble around non attendance.

Original poster
BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 05/03/2020 13:59

I will say that schools don't help with the emphasis that they put on 100% attendance, special awards and days out etc.

We don’t give out awards or special days out. We do monitor attendance but a child who just has “average” levels of illness will not trigger any interventions.

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Cookiecrumble8888 · 05/03/2020 14:03

The trouble is when they send a letter out to say you are below 95%. They highlight fines and reporting you to the authorities. You can even go to prison in extreme cases. My child school now have an attendance cup and the class with highest gets the cup. The reception and year one and two classes won't ever get it. They always have the lowest attendance.

It's also the case of its winter and they sent attendance warnings out in January. Surely we expect kids to have a few days off over winter at age 4-7 especially. The immune system is not yet developed. I always think the infant years should have a lower target than the juniors. An 8-11 year old is bound to be stronger than a 5 year old mingling in a new class.

That said tummy bugs are no excuse. You keep them off for a few days until recovered. It's selfish.

grandmasterstitch · 05/03/2020 14:11

Surely you should also observe the 48 hour rule OP?