I am having a bit of a issue and thought I would ask here. I might be a little too "soft" when it comes to my daughter. She is 5 and this is her first year of school, and we are still getting used to everything..rules, policies, etc. Yesterday the school nurse called me around 2pm to pick her up because of the "possibility" of pink eye. My first thought was "are you serious?" Then she told me Aida said her eye was itchy and had been rubbing it for the last part of the afternoon. They told me I would have to come get her just in case it was contagious. Now.. the school nurse said to just watch it an hour and see if it gets better. Well.. it didn't and she started sneezing..almost non-stop for the rest of the night. So today... I let her stay home because before bed and after waking up this morning, her eye was still red. Couple hours later...it's starting to look better and no complaints of itchiness. I told them I would keep her from school today and call the doctor's office to see what they suggest. I really think it's another allergy but I have no idea what is the cause (no changes at home recently). My issue... I am still unsure if I made the right decision to keep her from school. She was pouty and does not sound good, but she could survive the day of school..I am sure. I just don't know if I am doing the right thing. I don't want to "baby" her and then she thinks this is normal.
I think you made the right call! In the case of younger kids, I always tend on the side of keeping them home. My mom always says, "When in doubt, call them out!" Basically, this is for two reasons - young kids typically aren't great at articulating how they are feeling and if there's any chance of contagion, I don't want to risk spreading it to other families. My oldest is now in high school and I tend to be more strict with her because I can run through the "how are you feeling" checklist and be discerning. Also, she's in honors courses and missing a day results in a lot of extra work compared to my 1st grader. Overall, I wouldn't worry about babying her...after all, she's only 5 and there's nothing that makes a kid feel better than extra snuggles with Mom.
One of the only things Brett & I bicker about is this. Even tho they're all 4 teenagers now I still almost always err on the side of caution if they look me in the eye and tell me they're not feeling well enough to make it. Often I make them get up to go thru the motions of getting ready because sometimes they're just tired - but if they don't change their tune they stay home. I'm sure there are times they could have gone and just don't feel like it but for the most part they seem to get that it's trust thing, yadda yadda yadda. They also know it's a drag at this age to gather up all their missed work, etc, so it hasn't backfired too many times. I'd just rather not take the chance that I'm shoving someone out the door that really doesn't feel good (and not for nothing, but I sure wish more kids were kept home when they were sick). We also have a rule tho that if they stay home sick they have to commit. No "I feel better and sure would like to go ____________." Anywho - you listened to you instincts and that's important. Allergies are no fun so it counts.
yep I'd have kept her home for sure. I am a firm believer in giving kids the option to stay home once in a while. My daughter will want to go all the time if I let her when she is too sick. I don't think its fair to the other kids plus its a long day for little ones to get through when they aren't feel in well.
I'm like Allison, even as a teenager if Nick says he's sick I usually keep him home. The exception being the tail end of an illness when he's still milking it little and I know he's not contagious. Like the first day or two is a given, but by day three you better look really miserable. I also wish more kids stayed home when they were sick. Even past grade school illnesses spread like wildfire through the school population. And sick days are sick days. So he can lay under blankets and watch movies, but no computer, phone or video games. He's usually so bored by the end of the first day he's itching to go back.
I would have kept her home also. Our school has a policy if you are sent home for something like pink-eye or other contagious thing the student isn't coming back until they've seen a doctor (which is a complete waste of my time & money and a waste of my doctor's time, but he appreciates the money lol) My little guy is 5 and my little girl is 6 - both in Kindergarten in different classrooms (by my request)... anyway, they always love a day of staying home and snuggling. School is important, but not feeling well is no fun and less fun when you're not at home.
I definitely didn't want to make other kids sick, so that was one of my reasons for letting her have the day. I talked with her doctor's nurse and she told me I could bring her in or I could look out for the list of symptoms she gave me. She really has none of them...just a runny nose, now...probably getting a cold. Right now she's in bed...I think she just really wanted some downtime.
i think with as young as she is, the most important thing is that she feels mamma is hearing her and loving on her tons. you'll have plenty of opportunities in life to lay down the law and teach her not to manipulate circumstances (not at all saying that's what she was doing - it just sounds like that might have been your concern in all of this). in this case, i think you totally made the right choice.
aw, hugs to you! I am glad you kept her home. My first thought was a friend has a cat and she got the hair on her and in her eye...I think the whole excitement in kinder of going to the nurse was handled well, and she wasn't "sick" sick, but now knows the nurse is kind and momma will be there too. I have been one to keep my kids home when I see them running down, just to sleep a few hours in the morning. It is worth it, not to have 3 days ill later.
You have to follow your mom's instincts. Now if you do have a kiddo that gets sick a lot (most kindergartners are) then check with the school what their absentee policy is. Bianca is asthmatic and her Kindergarten year she was absent a whooping 21 days. At the first sign of asthma I would keep her home, because she gets bad pretty fast. I talked to school and their policy for kids is that if you send them to school and have to take them early out from school that is not considered absence. So now, if she is looking good I send her to school and then call at lunch time to check on her (I sometimes even go by). One week, she had pre-pneumonia but the doc said send her to school and tell the nurse she need treatment every 4 hrs. Instead of depending on the nurse and the pump, I decided to drag my neubulizer machine and give her the treatment myself. The school and nurse where happy to let me give her the meds and check on her. Only one day I decided that even after the treatment she still needed to calm down and I took her home.
Oh yes... she the school nurse is her second fave person besides her teacher. Because of having to keep up with her tree nut allergy, we have been to see her a couple times. Dalis - That is a good idea to check on her during the day. From yesterday though, it seems they will be calling if it's anything major. Rebecca - That was sort of my train of thought. I just don't want to be the parent that keeps their child from school so much for every little thing. I had really bad allergies/sinus issues when I was younger and would be out for a week at a time because of it. I definitely want her to know that if she does not feel well, she will have time to rest and get better.
I would have done the exact same, My son is 7 I'm with Anne also, he might not be too ill for school ill, but if I feel he needs a day at home to rest and recuperate I'll keep him home, rather than sending him in and it dragging him down and it ending up really ill with 3,4,5 days off school
I would have done the same thing probably. The hardest part for me is when I have to miss work for a sick kid, so sometimes I have to weigh that in too. If I was at home, it would be a no brainer at her age. Keep her home and let her rest. My boys are 9 and 7 now and the older one called me at work once and said he had a tummy ache. I went to get him and he raced in the house all excited to play video games. That's when I knew he was taking me for a ride. I told him no video games if he was sick and to go lay down in bed. about 3 minutes later he came out and said he was feeling better and could go back to school now. {eyeroll} It definitely gets easier to tell when they need to stay home when they are older and can tell you more what hurts or doesn't feel good. I hope your daughter feels better soon.
I would have let her stay too. Especially if her eye was still red, they might have sent her back anyway!
