When it comes to sick children, I am all for parents keeping their kids home and away from others while they are contagious. I’ll admit, when my child gets sick, I try to figure out who gave them the germs. But we are in “sick season” and despite my best efforts (and my refusal to stay inside and away from people all winter), it’s virtually impossible to keep the germs away.
Both of our kids came down with a cold last week. The first couple of days are always the hardest. . .when their noses run constantly and their sleeping is interrupted with coughing spells. The kids were pretty much all better on Sunday but we decided to keep them home from church, just in case, plus if there are other germs lurking around, we want them to be healthy before they pick up anything else.
A couple of days later, the kids were pretty much back to normal. So I decided it was okay to go ahead and put them back into a childcare class during one of my meetings. Soon after I dropped them off, I was summoned to pick up one of my kids and take her home. She was fine when I dropped her off. But now, I am told, she had yellowish discharge coming from her nose. Then I was told, it’s greenish-yellowish discharge. Interesting. . .since my daughter has never had anything green coming from her nose – that would be cause for alarm. I picked her up – she’s fine. She was fine the rest of the day. Occasionally she would ask for me to blow her nose, but she’s the type that asks before you even see anything coming from her nose. I personally think the teachers that day were a little hyper-sensitive and over-reacted when they asked me to remove her from the classroom. But I guess that’s their prerogative.
Then I found this article in the New York Times yesterday. . .it’s written by a doctor, on the topic of children too sick to be around others:
“The child with fever clearly needs to stay home, as does the child who is vomiting or is just plain miserable.
On the other hand, I do remember getting several calls from day-care directors or school nurses to inform me that although my child seemed happy and active, there was in fact a lurking fever — and I remember biting back the question, what kind of zealot takes the temperature of a happy, active child?
But of course, they were worrying about the other children. And that is a fair question with any child who is borderline sick: who is infectious, what’s the risk, and is there anything we can do to reduce it?” – Read the full article at The New York Times, February 9, 2009
So, moms and dads, any thoughts? Should my children stay in hibernation all winter, just in case?
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