My son goes to an afterschool program. Yesterday I arrived for pick up and they had him laying on a cot in the corner. They told me that he had a fever of 102. I did NOT get a call on this, so needless to say, I was on the warpath. When I talked to the Director about this, she apologized for not calling (she got swamped with other parents) and told me that they had just measured his temperature about a half hour. Technically, I was already on the road heading to come get him, so technically even if I had got a call, I could not have done anything differently. I let this go at this point since the Director admitted her mistake and apologized. She knows that I was displeased and I am sure that it will not happen again.
This morning, my son felt better, but he was still running a slight fever. I elected to keep him home since the afterschool has a 24 hour fever policy. Since they measured him at 102 yesterday, I highly doubt that they would take him today anyway. He is now happily playing video games, so I suspect that he would have been just fine to go to school. I was feeling poorly myself last night, so I wasn't too upset to take the day off today.
So, how do you make the call to keep them out? My son isn't throwing up or having bowel problems. He really isn't acting sick, although I don't know how he would feel throughout the day. My DH thinks that he would have been fine to go today. Of course, he doesn't do the drop offs/pick ups and he doesn't get the first phone call from the daycare/school if someone is sick. I am fine with taking a day off when one of my children really is sick, but man is it hard to justify taking off work when your child is running around like normal....
I feel better now....Obviously my child comes first. I hate to take time off so early in the year, but I do save days for just this purpose. I have a great job and I have nothing critical going on this week so it wasn't a huge deal for me to take today off. Since I so rarely take sick days at all, my job doesn't give me a hard time. I also trade off with my DH for covering something like this. My boss knows that I do NOT take off time unless I have to.
Maybe my son did just need a day off to rest and recuperate. Frankly, I think that I did too. I have been under huge stress lately and I think that it just caught up with me last night. My stomach has been in knots for days and I started getting severe stomach cramps...to the point of throwing up. We are just going to take it easy today....
You probably could have sent him to school and just taken off early. I don't go by energy level but fever. Thing is you give them something to bring the fever down and the energy level comes up but that will wear off at school and then you have to go pick them up, not worth it.
To me, regardless of how my son looks and acts, if their is any fever present, he stays home. I call and tell them that he is sick with a temp and that is it. Short and simple.
When our kids are sick they need Mom. Please don't push the 24 hours as your child needs recovery time and not to spread it to my child. I understand work is important but kids come first. You also said you didn't feel too great so stay home and rest too. Use good hand washing and wipe down common surfaces with a wipe or disinefectant soaked rag. The more people who would aacept it and stay home the quicker things would resolve and not get to half a school being absent. I go to work with leg pain or a muscle injury but never if I can make others ill and possibly their whole family. About her not calling, it would have not gotten you there sooner, she apologized and would the phone call changed much of anything?
I follow the 24 hour rule, because a kid who's happily playing quietly at home isn't necessarily well enough to run around and deal with the excitement and stress of school the day after being sick. I hate taking the time off too, but I figure that having a full day to recover will help my kids not get truly sick.
Well, nobody at work has to know your kid is acting fine - all you have to tell them is he's running a fever and everyone felt it would be best to keep him home. It's the daycare's policy, so how are they going to argue against that? And if they still have an issue or someone is annoyed, who cares? You have your child to think about and take care of first. Thing is, his temp could spike up again later and then he'll be miserable and then you could end up having to come get him anyway. And you don't feel 100% either, so don't worry about it. Sometimes we need to just be able to take a break and give our bodies the rest and chance to recover that they need. Better not to push it, and I bet he'll be fine tomorrow. And then you have the weekend to take it easy too. Work will survive without you.
It's not hard at all and if your bosses don't understand, then it's time for a new job.
There is no problem with being a working parent and not everyone can elect to have a stay at home parent. My husband and I both work and run into the same issues. I made my husband see that my job is just as important as his (I actually make more) and that we will split the days. Sometimes he elects for them to stay home and sometimes it's my call. We both have their best interests in mind.
You could have sent him, and the actvitiy probably would have spiked his fever again.
I think you made the right call.
I was a single mom of 2 for some time. I feel so bad for you because I can remember how torn I always felt when this was the case. It really depends on your boss, I think and how they deal with it. I don't remember worring about losing my job, even though it may have annoyed them. I do know that kids will be lethargic when their body tell them to rest, but if they feel like being active, let them. As far as spreading germs, maybe that is an issue. All in all, what I have learned since then and with 5 additional bunchkins is that germs help little immune systems to build and be strong. Usually up to 5 years, they catch lots of stuff. It's all good for them.
Lastly, when I spent some time on the cancer floor at CHOP with my daughter (cancer removed and hasn't returned so far ~praise God), I really learned how hand washing is of the utmost importance in spreading sickness. Just take it one day at a time and trust your gut.
My daughter did the same thing. She spiked a 103 fever, the day care called and I came and got her. Just a couple hours later the fever was gone, and she was a little lethargic but still acting ok. The next morning she was clingy (she was only a year old), and still a little lethargic, so I went a head and called in. She was fine most of the rest of the day.
I think calling in on instances like this is perfectly fine. There are times that I think the kids bodies just need a break. A day of rest can work wonders.
Technically we are allowed to take our kids to daycare as long as they are not vomiting, running a fever or having diarrhea. In other words they could have a cold with green snot running out of their noses and that's OK.
But, when my son has a cold and is obviously not feeling well, i.e. he's lethargic and cranky, etc. I keep him home because I want him to rest and relax. Daycare, as we all know, is a high energy situation with lots of kids.
My rule of thumb is "Will he be playing with the other kids? Will he be participating?" If not I make arrangements to keep him home.
And also, even if it IS allowed for them to be there with "just" a cold, occasionally the teachers will cop a real attitude if you bring your obviously sick kid in. Understandably; they have families of their own and don't want to bring germs home.
You probably did the right thing. rest and relaxation will help his body heal and kick the virus rather than having it hang around and make him sick again later in the week.
ENJOY your day of rest!
I always try to go with my Mommy gut on this. Even if he is feeling better I know that had I sent him in it could have been just the opposite if I didn't keep him home.
My son is a tough read. He has had a fever of 104 and still playing and acting normal. It happens and I wouldn't feel guilty. Maybe you both just needed a day to rest and recupe.
As far as the hubby, mine is the same way. Just about every time he acts nasty about my decision to keep him home. I told him the last time I had him stay home, "Look, I take care of drop off, pick up, sick calls, doc visits...he doesn't miss school unless it's necessary! Back Off". He actually told me later, "I'm sorry, your right".
Take care, hope everyone is on the mend.
out of respect for other children and their parents, your son should absolutely be home today, whether he's feeling better or not. 24 hours fever free without meds is the rule.
I'm sure he would be fine to go. BUT, if the after school has this rule, so does the school.
As for you being upset with them about not getting the call...SERIOUSLY?. The director doesn't have all the phone #'s memorized in her head. It takes a few minutes to go and look up the number, grab the phone and dial. 30 minutes is not that long AND it's your normal drop off time? I would not even bother to call if it was one of my families that is regular and on time. Some of my families have floating leave times and I never know when they would come. So they would get a call right away because I want the child GONE.
The child is to be picked up within an hour of realizing they are sick. You were on your way. You REALLY need to get over it and you ought to apologise to the woman for staring her down or saying whatever you said.
My son was the same way a couple of days ago. He had a fever around 10:00 pm, so I knew the 24 rule and kept him home. He was mad at me (really wanted to go to school) and seemed fine most of the day. I'm pretty sure my parents would have made me go to school!
He did watch a little tv, though, and I think the extra downtime was really good for him. I've been told that part of the reason school have that rule is because making them go back too soon can cause them to relapse. Kids really need that downtime.
It is tough to make the call. My parents used to make us go and see if we could "tough it out." If we couldn't, we could always call and they would pick us up. I really think my parents had the right idea, at least for most adults. Sometimes when you don't feel good, you just need to get out of bed and try. Most of the time you really do start to feel better. Hard to know what to do with little ones, when you don't quite know how bad they feel.
A child can be sick, with a fever, and still running around and playing normally. Children aren't waylayed by much of ANYTHING, until they feel so awful they can't help it.
Your child shouldn't be around other children until he's gone 24 hours without a fever, and that means without a fever FREE of using any fever reducing medication.
I think it's better to be safe than sorry. Your son might be acting normal now, but his fever might spike again this afternoon. Keep him hydrated and activity level low. Playing video games is fine if they don't have him jumping around.
Take this opportunity to read a book together or play a board game. If you get a chance to do some stuff around the house, that's great too. Don't feel guilty about staying home. I think you would feel worse if you sent your son to school and then got a call in a couple hours to come get him.
Fever is fever is fever. He should not have been at school or the after school program.
Had the temperature of the fever been less than 100.9 I would have sent him anyway. School policy would dictate whether he could attend school or not but I would have kept him home due to knowing that anything of 101.0 or higher is out of there and not allowed back for at least 24 hours.
I think you did exactly the right thing. The school actually has the same policy as the after school program, so he still needed to stay home for today. My neighbor's son had a virus that was JUST a fever and would pop up automatically throughout the day. It was crazy. He was off for a week.
You have to follow their policies, honestly fever is no fun and a sign there is something going on inside his body - best to keep him home and resting.
I would have kept him home also. What I found with my GD is that if I send her back to school too soon, she ends up sick again. So, I always like to give that extra day just to make sure she's really over it. I also feel guilty when she's running around, but I'd rather feel guilty about missing work than sending her back to school too soon!
This is one of the reasons we elected to have one of us be a stay at home parent. And since he has the degree and was active duty, I get to stay at home. So when my kids dont' feel well I can let them stay home.
But many times mine have gone to school saying they feel ok, only for me to get a call that they have thrown up. All 4 of them have done this. And I have sent them to school the next day with no problems.
Daycare wouldn't take your child today anyway, so you did the right thing. Is there any work you can do at home?
Our policy is no video games if you are home sick, or laying on the couch not doing your work. I homeschool 2 of mine. Nor do mine get tv privileges when they are sick. I will put in an educational movie, but when mine are really sick they dont' pay attention to tv anyway.
