Sniffle, cough, sneeze – when to keep your child home from school.

It's often difficult for we parents to decipher when it's okay to send our child to school, and when they should stay home – I've experienced this during our first year of school, and countless times during my years on the other side as a teacher. Often kids seem okay in the morning, but as the day progresses their health quickly declines; nobody could have predicted that... or could they? I've learned that it's very helpful to watch children's appetite, energy level, whether they're behaving like themselves, or if they're acting “off,” and to look closely at their eyes to see if they are red-rimmed, watery, or glassy, as these can all be indications of oncoming or present illness.

On the mother end of the matter, I don't want my child to get too far behind in school work, and sometimes reorganizing my entire schedule due to illness is very disruptive (ironically I'm writing this as I wait with my son at urgent care). On the teacher side, it made my heart hurt for kids who didn't feel well, really needed the comforts of home, and the attention of caring family to help them through a sick day.
As the teacher, it is uncomfortable to have to make a judgment call, and inform families that their child is too sick to be in class because we don't want to inconvenience you, the parent; here's what happens when we don't call: we spend an exaggerated amount of time on one child, which means that others students are receiving less attention than they deserve, we teachers do get ill (even though we're exposed to “everything”) which keeps us from teaching, so everyone gets behind, and/or more students get ill and then nobody is happy.

The, “Stay home” rules (for school and elsewhere):

• If your child has a condition that requires antibiotics: 24 hours after medication is started they can return to school.

• If your child has a fever of 100 degrees or more: fever-free for 24 hours before returning to school.

• Diarrhea or vomiting: symptom free for a full 24 hours.

• If there's yellow or green coming out of anything (eew!): symptom free for 24 hours.

• Anything else contagious: symptom free for 24 hours, or doctor's note.

Let's talk about, "cold etiquette," and prevention:
Please send Kleenex with your child if they're going to be at school with the sniffles (we're talking a mild cold that's not effecting their energy level, appetite, or behavior; clear runny nose, and no fever). Before your send your child to school with the sniffles it will be helpful to teach your child how to cover their sneezes, wipe their runny nose with Kleenex (no sleeves, please), and cover their coughs each time they sneeze or cough. What if there's no Kleenex? Teach your child to cover their coughs and sneezes in the crook of their arm - that's right hands are taboo! Teach them to make that connection of mouth touching arm to keep droplets of water from flying out of their mouth - sharing is good, but nobody wants you to share your germs. (Weird fact: a popular TV show, MythBusters, tested how far a human sneeze would travel out of the mouth, and found that their sneezes went as far as 17 feet! Those germy droplets are left suspended in the air waiting for their next unknowing victim. See why your mother told you to cover your mouth? Yuck indeed!)

After all the wiping teach your child how to properly wash their hands with soap and warm water - bubbles covering their entire hands, before rinsing. (I taught young children, but to give you a visual idea, we called this total covering,"bubble gloves" in my class) Hand washing also needs to be performed every time after using the restroom - this rule goes for both genders (just sayin').

What if there's no water available? Hand sanitizer is a useful tool, though it's not as effective as hand washing, it is better than doing nothing. Be sure to get an alcohol based hand sanitizer, and use sparingly on the smallest members of your family (I'll explain why later). Send some along with your child, and instruct them to use it each time they wipe their nose, or forget and sneeze or cough into their hands vs. their arm. Our family has experienced a dramatic reduction in illness thanks to the introduction of sanitizer; we use it immediately when we get into the car after being out and about, before we eat (when we're away from home), and many other useful times.

If there was one single thing you could do to keep the "bugs" at bay, it would be hand washing; I cannot stress thorough hand washing enough. While I'm on the topic, please buy plain old soap, don't buy antibacterial soaps - they're doing more harm than good (this goes for hand sanitizer, too); there's growing concern, and evidence, that antibacterial soap is a huge factor in the development in what the medical world calls, "drug-resistant super germs." Are you rolling your eyes at me? (Remember, I have both mom and teacher skills; that's akin to being a ninja!) Google "are antibacterial soaps a concern," and see what comes up. This insight was originally given to me by a trusted doctor.

To sum up, everyone (adults too!) should follow the, "stay home" rules, and follow the "cold etiquette" I've shared by covering coughs, and sneezes with the crook of the arm, use Kleenex for noses, wash hands thoroughly, or use hand sanitizer.
Our family strives to live by the golden rule, “Treat others as you'd like to be treated by them;” this is especially true for health. If you wouldn't want somebody to bring their child to school with X don't take your child with X school either. Or if you wouldn't want somebody at work with X... you get the point.


Blessings and health to you and yours!
~Hannah Spagnola