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To School or Not to SchoolQ: I'm often unsure what the criteria are for sending my daughter to school when she seems a little sick or is getting over a cold. Should I send her to school or not? A:That is the question many parents face on any school day morning. Is it wiser for a parent to keep a youngster home from school because of a runny nose, headache or other mild malady and forego a day of work or suffer the "slings and arrows" of outraged parents whose children might be exposed to the less than healthy child left in daycare, preschool, or grade school? This decision is quite often a true dilemma and the solution is not always clear. Daycare has swept across the country in the past decades as a necessity as economic and social forces have propelled both parents into the work place. In many cases, this has lowered the age of the child venturing out of the home to less than one year of age. When a child enters an environment that includes children from different households, there will be a significant increase in the frequency of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections that will afflict him or her. Most daycare centers and schools take measures to decrease the likelihood of the disease transmission. Each has their own health guidelines for allowing an infant or child into the "group." Included in these criteria is the requirement that the immunization status of each child be current. Although it may be true that school is the child's workplace, the rules are different for them than they are for an adult who might push himself to go to work, despite feeling ill. Since your child can't make an objective decision regarding going to school (most would opt for a day at home suffering through cartoons and video games), the decision is left to you. In my opinion, children should not be sent to school or to daycare if they have: 1. Fever over 100.4 F (rectally) 2. Repeated vomiting 3. Diarrhea 4. Earache 5. Toothache 6. Rashes that are associated with viral infections or are widespread and otherwise unexplained. 7. Untreated head lice or scabies 8. Upper respiratory infections with conjunctivitis (pink eye) 9. Any other state of ill health or fatigue that interferes with a positive learning experience in school The classroom is not a babysitting facility. If a child is not well enough to learn and participate in (non-athletic) class work, he or she should be with a parent or guardian who can give TLC or evaluated further by a health professional such as a pediatrician, pediatric nurse practitioner, or family practitioner. The child may be sent to school if he or she has: 1. Respiratory allergies that are not disabling 2. Allergic skin rashes 3. Minor injuries to extremities that permit mobility 4. Chronic abdominal pains that have been checked by a health professional and have been found to be non-disease or of a nature that would not be helped by staying home from school 5. Mild recurrent headaches that have been medically cleared 6. Mild cough or sore throat without fever that have been present for more than 2 days. Sometimes a child will have vague physical complaints that are signs and symptoms of school avoidance or phobia. |
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