Is a head cold a good reason to keep you child home from school?

As long as they are not running a fever or obviously contagious I see no reason not to send a child with a cold to school. All kids get sick because they are all around each other for several hours a day. I don't care how much sanitizer gets used kids are going to get sick until they build up enough immunity to things. And no matter what you do a cold is going to be around for a week to ten days. Medicines will help a little but...you're still going to have the cold. And that was told to me by a doctor.

For me if the reason for the child to skip school is more of pure lazy, I would not accommodate that. But if its because of health, I would definitely kept them at home. This is because health is the most important thing that I would monitor on my children. Not to worsen their health, I would make sure they skip school for that... but not for a mere slight flu I guess. :-)

No i dont think a simple head cold is a reason good enough to skip school. These are minor things and simple medication is good enough to manage these. I wont keep my children off from school until there is some problem that could increase if proper rest is not provided to the child. I earlier use to allow my daughter to skip school if she is not feeling well but found her playing all day once her school van was gone. So let the child face some problems. Always keeping them in mothers arms is not acceptable.

Hi, sorry to be late but I'm running behind. No, I don't think so. The child caught the germs at school so they are already there. If he had a temp and was vomiting or having trouble breathing or an ear ache then I would keep the child home. Otherwise, I would send the child off to school...my kids ate well, no junk and were strong and healthy. A few sniffles or a cough would not slow them down. I'm also a believer in subjecting kids to germs etc so they can build the antibodies to fight them off.

i think it depends on the child. if he/she doesnt feel well, there is no way they will be able to concentrate at school anyways, so i would keep them home. also, if they are contageous too, why would you send your child to school to infect a whole bunch of other?

In my household, my kids go to school unless they have a fever, have diarhea, or are vomiting. If they go to school and become ill when they get there, the nurse will call me to pick them up. The only exception would be if everyone else in the house has been sick and I knot that they are coming down with it and really do feel ill. I have learned to watch for different behaviors in my children to indicate if they are really ill in this situation or not. I think that as my kids grow up, they need to know and understand that there will be plenty of time swhen they are tired and just do not want to go to work or wherever, but they have to. I use this approach with school to help teach them responsibility. It has really helped out a lot. I can only imagine the number of times my children would have stayed home "sick" if I didn't have these rules in place. In addition, I tell my kids that if they are too sick to go to school, they are too sick to play. This also helps.

I don't keep them home for a cold, but I do keep my son home if his nose is running bad, or he is sneezing alot. He has CP and is not one to be the most sanitary no matter how we try. I try to keep him home so that he does not spread germs. My other son, I keep home if he is running a fever or is really run down. I judge for myself.

school is very very important in my home. however so is mental health. i am not going to send my children to school if they are sick. i think that's silly and can cause others to become ill as well. i always allow my children to have a "me" day off. two from sep-jan, and then two from feb-june. i know what its like to get up and not want to go to work, so i know they have those days too. this way i know they are not going to leave the house saying they are going to school and end up sleepin on a friends couch...

You knopw I am not a parent but I do have a story I think yo would like to hear. Ever since I started school, my mom told me that going to school was my job. So even when I was sick , I would go to school. Well one day I felt terrible but I was determined to go to school. So I got dressed and was about to leave when my mom took one lok at me and said. " Go back to bed!" So now I feel it depends on how the child feels. If he/she is sick but feels well enough to go, then they should go. But if they feel terrible, they shoud stay home.

Knowing my self I know when I felt sick and went to school I never lerned or concentrate in class so on those days I was just present with my body but my brain was out having a holiday so to send my child at school when he is sick makes no sence at all. Having said that my son only asks not to go to school when he is really sick (by that I mean I could actually feel high temeperature) so if he sais he is sick and I can see that I let him stay home in fact 2 times I had to go pick him up from school early because he was sick and didnt tell me that.

For me it would depend on how bad the head cold is, in the past year I have gone from never ever getting a cold or sniffle to having had 3 head colds and I know from that they can be pretty awful when at their fullest! So if my child had a really bad head cold then I would keep them off school because they would not be on full form. I am a Mum that believes in good attendance at school and do not like keeping the children off unless its absolutely necessary so when it comes to illness they have to be really ill to get the day off!

hi miamilady oh if I still had little kids in school with'bad colds they wouldn't be sent to school as that is a great way to spread cold and flu bugs. I would not keep them out unless they were really ill but then yes, they would stay home until they were no longer contagious. education was always important to me and I never let my kid stay home unless there was a damned good reason.

If your child has a fever I would keep him/her home. If not it is just a matter of how bad the child feels. Sometimes my grandson has a sniffle and maybe a cough. He doesn't want to stay home and I don't see any reason why he should. If he feels bad enough to want to stay home then my daughter keeps him home and takes him to the doctor. I think that is a good way to let things be. But we always keep the kids home if there is a fever.

What my daughter's doctor told me just 3 days ago was that a lot of schools aren't wanting the kids to come to school with any type of sickness. They are all pretty scared of the whole H1N1 thing. My daughter generally gets an upper respitory thing in the fall and winter months. Nothing new and her school knows this. Well sure enough she got one, she coughed in class and her teacher immediately rushed her to the nurse. Granted it was a serious cough because she's asthmatic too. But still nothing different than before. She's had this teacher for advisory before. Anyway, I needed to take her to her doctor for the issue anyway. Her doctor said, I'd better give her a doctor's note and have her stay home for a couple days. I was surprised because she had never done that before and this is something that she deals with in my daughter every year. And her doctor said to me that these schools are sending kids home for a lot less so you'd better take the note and leave her home for a few days. I was shocked!

I think it depends how poorly your child feels. If it was my little girl then I'd watch to see how distressed she was and then make a decision. If she was very poorly then I would not send her to school. Plus the fact that there is swine flu at the moment which at first can seem like the common cold.

I am of the school that a case of 'sniffles' is not a reason to keep a kid home from school, although you might want to rule out a case of allergies. * Sometimes it is hard to determine if your kids' sniffles are not something more serious, so be certain there is no fever or ear problems. Vitamins can keep a little one from catching so many colds too. A dollop of non-drowsy kid's 'sniffle' relief will help with school concentration. * If your school has a school nurse, you can be sure that your child has a supply of over the counter children's medication (non-drowsy) to keep him/her comfortable during the day so he/she can concentrate on lessons and not on the stuffed head. Your child's teacher may help if there's no nurse. * Stand by in case 'Sniffles' get worse and you need to pick up your child.

if it's a severe cold,yes. not only does the kid most likely feel miserable,he could spread it to others. my folks sent me a few times sick and i never could concentrate with all the nose wiping.

here is how i judge whether or not keep my child home from school or not. if he has a fever he stays home and we see the doctor. if he has diarrhea of course he stays home because you cannot send a child to school like that. the other thing i ask is if he has any pain and if he has a really bad headache along with the cold then i will let him take some tylenol or advil and if it does not resolve and he is really feeling badly i will let him stay home and rest. but if it is just a cold he goes to school as they can only miss so many days per year.

I think it depends on how severe the cold is. If the child is really miserable and worn out from the cold then I would maybe keep them home for a day. Other than that my kids aren't staying home unless they have a fever.

Acceptable is a fever or throwing up. Not acceptable is a head cold or vacation or just because the child doesn't want to go. I was sent to school as a child no matter what. I went to school sick. I went to school an hour after surgery. I was so loopy and so out of it that I fell over in the hallway and passed out and my mother refused to come get me. The principal had to pick me up and carry me to her office and I slept the anesthesia out of my system in her office the rest of the day. I was that sick, but my mother felt it best that I go to school and learn. I do resent my mom for treating me like that. I went to school throwing up. I went to school with PMS cramps so bad, I was doubled over in the bathroom and throwing up and when I finished throwing up the food I had eaten, I heaved so badly that I choked. I'm not going to force my child to go to school come hell or high water, but if she's truly sick, she can stay home. If she gets sick at school, I'll go get her or my DH will or someone will and take her home. I'm not going to be as strict as my mom was with me, but if she's just sniffly or didn't sleep well or whatever, she's going. Period.