When to keep kids home from school

  

I was listening to the radio on my commute to work and heard the 2 male hosts discussing when it was okay to let their kids stay home from school,  and how they would treat them.

They had opposite views! 

Host A said that he would send his kids to school if they were sick (I wanted to reach through the radio and strangle him....) but if they had to stay home, they had to stay in bed and not have any electronics, Netflix, etc. He said he felt like his kids were "faking it."

Host B said he would keep his kids home if they were sick (thank you!) and to help them feel better, he  would stop and get ice cream, and shoot off confetti cannons. I like his view MUCH better!

As mom to 3 grown kids with asthma, my kids missed a LOT of school when they were little.

How do you know if you should send them? I found a blog from Dr. Chad Hayes called "Too Sick for School? Here's Your Guide"

He covers 25 different illnesses, including asthma, vomiting, rashes, pink eye, etc. Here's what he says about asthma:

"Children with asthma have a lot of different triggers—from allergen exposures to viral infections, exercise, and a lot more. There’s no concern about spreading this to other children (except maybe the cold that kicked it off), so it really depends on the child’s symptoms. If they are having difficulty breathing, or if they need treatments so frequently that the school or daycare can’t provide them, keep them at home. But remember, missing school frequently due to asthma is a sign that it’s not well-controlled."

For me, if my kids were in the Yellow Zone of their Asthma Action Plan, they would stay home. If I knew they were going to need breathing treatments on the nebulizer every 4-6 hours, I would want to keep my eye on them at home. My kids would usually go from bad to worse VERY quickly (and that's why we had 12 hospitalizations.)

It used to drive me crazy when parents would send their kids to school when they were sick. I don't want my kids around someone else who has a fever or is throwing up. Don't share the misery! There were many parents who KNEW their kids were sick and throwing up, but sent them to school anyway. Then it just spreads through the whole classroom, and then to our families.

It's also very easy for a simple cold to turn to pneumonia or bronchitis when you have asthma. And that would mean another hospitalization for my kids.

And when my kids were discharged from the hospital, Asthma Doc would tell me to keep the kids home from school for a week. It takes a while for their lungs to bounce back and he would stress that their bodies need to heal.

Talk to your doc to see what he or she recommends, so you're not infecting the rest of the classroom. 

As for me, when someone is at home sick, they get soup, ice cream, Netflix - and anything else they want. Our lungs work hard with asthma and we deserve a rest!