Do You Send Your Child to School with a Cough?

Yup! They stay home if they have a temp above 100, if they have dark green snot, throwing up or issues at the other end.

My oldest has asthma and allergies (both seasonal and environmental) if I kept him home for every cough and runny nose he gets the boy would never be in school!

Yes as long as it's just a cold and no other symptoms. What are you gonna do wait until it stops? Average cold lasts 7-10 days.

I did, as long as they feel good in every other way. My boys took a hanky in their back pocket.

Yes if not shed be home all winter
also i believe your most contageous before you show symptoms and in the 1st few days! i i do feel anything stomach virus or fever related should be taken seriously

If the cough has kept them up at night, I have. If I know that they didn't get the sleep they needed and feel really crappy then yes... but if they are fine with just a lingering cough, then they go to school!

yes, if I kept them out for every runny nose and cough they would never go to school. I keep them home if there is a fever or they cannot participate.

Yes, I do, because otherwise he'd probably rarely make it to school. I just instruct him to remember to cough into his elbow (you can even mark it with a sticker), use tissues for his nose, and wash his hands often, especially after sneezing/wiping.

Yes. If there is no fever and he's not clearly lethargic, then he goes to school. I kept him home one time with the sniffles... by about 10:00 I regretted that decision! He was fine and running around the house like a crazy person!

Yes, with a cough and a clear runny nose, I would send him. If he appeared really really lethargic, had thrown up or had a fever...I'd keep him home. I was a teacher and I can't tell you how many times kids were in school with coughs and colds, if they had to stay home every time they had a cough or runny nose, I can't tell you how many days they'd miss. They just need to be taught to cough in their sleeve, use tissues, wash hands, etc. I also think, as long as there are no serious health concerns, that exposure to germs can be a good thing as it helps to strengthen the immune system.

Does the school you bring him to have a nurse? She could evaluate him, but really, just go with your mother instinct.

During the winter months I think you kind of have to. If you didn't half the school would be absent.

Heck ya he goes to school even w/a cold! Like other mamas have said if it's just a cold and there are no other symptoms then he's going. Again, like other mamas if I kept him home for every sniffle he would be home more than at school!

I too teach to use a tissue, cough into your elbow, and use sanitizer. I'm not a big sanitizer person, but I use it more when I'm sitting there blowing my nose. Just yesterday I went to my own class with a terrible cold armed with tissues and sanitizer. I can't miss my class b/c of a runny nose. :-)

my son has been having a wicked allergy attack for about a week now. Sniffling, sneezing, coughing, no fever, no fatigue, nothing contagious. I give him allergy meds and send his butt to school. I did call the school nurse and put a note in his backpack so everyone would know what was going on.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With a talk about properly coughing in your sleeve, washing hands through out the day and a pack of travel tissues in his pocket!

When they were younger and they had a fever I kept them home. If they felt miserable I kept them home. If it is just a cough and they felt fine then they would go.
My Highschooler will go sick as a dog. She refuses to miss some of her classes. If she is not feverish I let her go.

I would not have brought him home, he would have stayed and had fun.

A cough/runny nose by itself is not criteria for staying home sick.
In order to be considered sick, there has to be a fever, throwing up or diarrhea.
A stomach ache sometimes resolves itself - he can go to school and the nurse can send him home if it gets worse.
Making up homework is a nightmare (they have a system "While You Were Out" assignment sheets but something goes wrong with it every single time and it comes back to bite us grade wise).
In order to stay home sick, our son has to be really sick - and then he sleeps all day in bed, reads if he can't sleep and no tv or computer or games till my work is done (I work from home) and he has to work on what ever home work came home with him.

Unless my child is feeling out of sorts, has a sore throat that is able to be verified by redness or swelling of the uvula and tonsils, green runny snot, or fever - she goes to school.

yes i send my 4 year old daughter to school like that! she has asthma and allergies so i never really know if she is sick or if her allergies and asthma act up. as long as the runny nose is clear he should be fine to be at school. i would ignore the teacher. i let my daughters teacher know that if my daughter is coughing too much (like she is really out of breath) then to call me or my husband and we would pick her up.

She must be a new teacher! Yes, it is perfectly fine to send him to school.

Yep. I give them mucinex w/ cough suppressant for kids and allergy medicine (b/c mostly it is his allergies that cause those symptoms for them).

Mine went TODAY with a cough and runny nose.

He's got energy. He's not sporting a fever. He's not slowing down. Why keep him home?

no dont send them to school- or at least we dont send them to school until the cough stops or we know what it is. I know it is probably nothing but the teachers get really upset

Yes, I send her. My 4th grader has a cough right now. She has had a cold for about 3 weeks, the cough is the last symptom and is just lingering. No runny nose, no fever. She is 100% active in all activities. It would be ridiculous to keep her home. A cough can linger forever. Absent of other more serious symptoms, I most definitely send my kids to school.

Wow, you're we're in CA and my daughter has the same thing. She had a 99.4 on Monday and kept her home just to give her some rest, but she still sounded like a seal yesterday and today, and yep, at school.

it depends on how bad the cough is. If it's a really bad yucky cough to where they can't concentrate or it's disruptive to the class, then yes I would keep them home. If it's just a slight annoying dry cough, but no other problems, then sure

just a cough?.....yes i do. Sometimes in the winter months coughs can last a few weeks. No way is my baby missing school. She knows how to cough into her sleeve.

As long as the child is not running fever send them. Make sure they know to caugh into the cruck of their arm and to wash hands regularly and to use tissues on their nose and not their sleeve.

Hope your child feels better soon!!

My son has sinus issues, so whenever there is a seasonal change, like clockwork, he starts in with the stuffy, clear, runny nose and hacking cough. Usually once he gets up in the morning and moves around the cough subsides and a little zyrtec keeps the runny nose at bay. So yes I usually send him and tell the teachers his sinuses are acting up. (He has been seen by his doctor for this condition and was diagnosed with reactive airway disorder, so I know this is what it is and he is not contagious.) His preschool has this statement written in their handbook about colds and this is what it says, "your child may attend school with a cold, but if it is accompanied by a low-grade fever or vomiting then they should stay home. Also if they appear to be lethargic or very uncomfortable then they should stay home as well."
I think you judged right and the teacher was in the wrong here. If he had a lot of green and Y. gunk coming out of his nose that is one thing, but some kids get runny noses just from being cold no matter what time of year it is.
Perhaps you should call your doctor and speak with the nurse about it. I am sure they will tell you he is fine to attend school. That way when the teacher calls you can inform her what the doctor said. Speak to her pleasantly. It could be she just doesn't know that some symptoms are fine to be around if proper hygiene rules are followed. Good luck!
A.

If I kept my kids home every time one of them had a cough & runny nose I'd lose my job for missing so much work!