I'm too ill to take DD to school and now DH is unwell too -- can we just keep DD home for a day or two?

[SongsOfSongs]

I have COVID or the flu or something and I have been absolutely floored with fever, congestion, racing heart, etc. since Friday. I've camped out in the bedroom all weekend while DH took care of the children. Now, he says he's got it too. For me, it came on very strongly, so I worry that by the morning he is going to be very unwell. If he is, can we just keep DD home for the day? She's in Y5.

Ideas I've considered that won't work: We live a bit far from the school so no other families near us that I know of. No good enough friends that I would ask this of them either. It's tube + walking and I don't feel comfortable sending her on her own. I have an older DD but their schools are in opposite directions, so she couldn't make the primary drop and then get to her school in time and would get detention. Don't think I'd feel comfortable sending her in a taxi. Is there anything else I'm missing? Hopefully it'd just be a day - maybe two - before I was well enough to take her.

Never had one of us become ill before the other was better before!

Does it? Why does the NHS talk about mild and moderate symptoms?

If you can afford it taxi for whichever parent can manage there and back. Same for return. Phone school and tell them to release child at home time. But my local primary at year 5 . You just drop and leave. Same for home time.
But in my part of north east you have absolutely no chance of a taxi at school time. Uber maybe, but the cost!

I would send both daughters in taxi and book breakfast club for little one so she can go in earlier and explain to secondary school

Don’t give the taxi driver your flu!

I was talking about a bad dose of flu, which by definition doesn't have either mild or moderate symptoms.

That poster literally said ‘a bad attack of flu’. Not a ‘mild attack’ or a ‘moderate attack’.

Written by someone who has never had real flu, not just a bad cold.

That's not what says. 'Real flu' and a bad cold can be indistinguishable. And a bad cold can be brutal.

I've had many colds in my life, some really bad and I've had flu twice. Believe me, you can tell the difference. The flu had me in bed for a week and off work for another week. Even the worst cold is nothing like that.

I’m not sure why people are bickering about the symptoms of various illnesses anyway. The OP has said that she’s too ill to take her child to school. Assuming she knows her symptoms better than us strangers who haven’t met her do, then it’s probably best to take that at face value.

I would say working with the general public it’s an occupation hazard. In London don’t they have screens?
Anyway if it was me, I would just phone in to say they are ill.
But I don’t live far and have my parents and a couple of school friends parents who would have taken them.

I had flu when I was 28 and dh had to carry me to the toilet because I needed to wee and didn’t have the energy. Literally couldn’t drag myself out of bed.

i would usually say you have to get dc to school but a couple of days in 5 will be fine.

Just keep her at home. It's not a big deal.if she misses a couple if days. Don't worry about it and get some rest to get better.

You can definitely tell the difference. I remember I was a young adult when I had the flu, fit and healthy, training for a half marathon. it was the first time I took ibuprofen as well as paracetamol because the paracetamol wasn’t doing anything and everything hurt, including moving. The ibuprofen didn’t do anything either. I’ve got the flu vaccine ever since because I remember that.

Just phone in sick for her. Some kids in my child's class had a week off to go on a skiing holiday. You can take a couple of days when you're ill. No big deal.

Sorry to hear you and your Dh as so poorly, i hope you both feel much better soon. You really are over thinking this, just keep her off school, it really is that simple and there are no other thoughts needed.

You're not safe to drive if you're that ill, and you certainly shouldn't be spreading the virus on public transport or to taxi drivers. The lesser of the 2 evils is that you all stay home, so do that. Phone the school and tell the truth - it could be difficult for your child if you teach her to lie and say she was ill. It's not your fault, and you don't have to care what they think - but many of the staff will be parents too and will know where you're coming from.

The NHS site literally says that it can make some people ‘seriously ill’ on the flu page.

It can be mild and moderate, yes. It can also be severe.

The site also notes that flu can make you feel “exhausted and too unwell to carry on as normal.”

If you haven’t been severely ill with flu, you just haven’t had severe flu symptoms. That doesn’t mean it is only ever mild or moderate.

Yes. When I was a fit twenty year old I got flu and couldn't move from bed for two days. My mum had to take care of me like a baby basically.

Poor taxi driver and subsequent passengers! I’d be pissed off if someone with raging flu symptoms got in my taxi. Bit selfish.

If you explain the circumstances to eldest's school they will not get a detention.

In my seven decades of life, I've only had real flu three times, and each time I was totally debilitated. One of those times was when I had two pre schoolers, and my husband had to take time off work to both nurse me, and care for the children.

I'm just getting over my third bout. It's day 8, and though I'm now dressed and up and about, I'm still not eating much or going out, and the idea of walking to a tube station and taking a trip in central London sounds grim. But at least I can now make it from bed to the bathroom, which on days 1&2 felt almost impossible.

10 years old and can't go to school on their own? That's not good.

I wouldn't give this a second thought, I'd keep them at home.

I wouldn't put them in a taxi if it was something they aren't used to, either.

Getting them to school yourself when you are that ill would be potentially more dangerous all round (faints etc.).

Hope you feel better soon.

What did you do in the end, OP?

I would have sent her in a taxi, requested a female taxi driver and called the school office in advance to ask them to confirm she had arrived safely.

Also this is not helpful right now but I do agree that it's best for primary age children to go to a nearby school if at all possible.