[OakShannon]

Okay, dumb first time mom question coming.

How do you decide that your kids are sick enough that you should keep them home? David has his first cold. He's not that sick - just a runny nose and I've heard him cough one or two times. He's playing and eating pretty normally, though.

So, I wouldn't necessarily be keeping him home for HIS sake. He has his toddler class tomorrow and a playdate on Friday. If he was feeling badly, I wouldn't even consider going. I'm thinking more about spreading germs around to the other kids. It's getting to be flu season and I could end up taking him somewhere with a cold, only to find out a day later that he had something worse. And yesterday another little girl in his class was really coughing at the snack table - which made me wince. So I'm wondering, at what point are other moms going to be thinking, "I wish he'd stayed home today." I also know that not every kid is as healthy and able to fight things off as my little one seems to be. (This literally is his first cold. He's NEVER sick.)

So, those of you experienced moms - where do you draw the line? I'm expecting a barrage of colds this winter because of his toddler class and I don't want him to miss things unnecessarily, but I want to be considerate of the other kids too.

[robandjulie]

Another consideration for keeping him home is that his system is already fighting something so taking him out among new germs may expose him to something else that he would normally fight off easily but may end up getting sick from in his current state.

My line: If he's not feverish, his mucus is clear (vs. cloudy/green), and he's not coughing in that violent spray-everything way and he seems up for it, you're probably ok to go. If any of those DO apply (fever, cloudy/green, spray-cough) I'd tend toward stay-home.

The spray-cough is not a strict symptom I've heard of, but that's the thing that makes me cringe when another kid hacks a lung out onto something and then runs off to play and no one cleans it off a bit before other kids get to it. Once they get old enough to reliably cover their mouths and wash up then even a cough/sneeze wouldn't warrant staying home...only fevers, vomit, or green/cloudy mucus. Although, again, it's a risk-benefit analysis: does the risk of picking up even more cooties with a sick kid warrant the outing? If it's school, yes. If it's a trip to a free-play at a bounce-house, no.

[joskimo]

I generally don't keep my daughter home for a runny nose, unless it's making her miserable. If she's feeling good,just a little snotty, then she goes. Thing is, she can have a runny nose for 3 weeks a month. In general I use fever to dictate what I do unless she's got complaints, then I let her stay home.

[Stormster]

I go by the clear snot rule. It's accepted around here that you just don't bring a kid with thick mucous around other kids. E had 12 BAD colds already (nightmare) and we missed sooo many things it's not funny.

Also, fever of over 100, vomiting.....obviously a rash or pinkeye.

I think it's actually easy to tell? Ask the Fadz!

[crick]

I keep my kids home when they have a fever or not physically well enough to last the day. Or if contagious obviously.

If their appetite is good, not tired, clear "fluids", no fever and no apparent symptoms of anything to come...off to school they go.

Snot doesn't scare me. Until age 5-7, kids seem to be full of that stuff so, yanno...

[startedover]

Seriously I use to keep my kids home if they simply didn't feel good. Didn't even have to have a fever. But they never abused it. Now schools are so hard on kids (not preschools obviously). My sons HIGH school has a policy that if you miss over 2 days a semester you have to take finals, which means an extra week of school. (2 finals a day and study days). He has straight A's and what kid wants to go an extra week, so if he gets the flu, I will fight that policy or they can let him sit in the office and contaminate the teachers.

[quantum]

I go by the daycare/schools policies here. They seem to be a good rule of thumb.

First of all, I've heard that once you're displaying cold symptoms, your contagious time has passed already.
We try to teach our kids to cough/sneeze into their elbows.

Stay home if they have a fever of 38 degrees celcius or more and keep them home for one full day after the fever has gone.

Vomiting, stay home for two days after they stop (if it's a stomach flu).

Generally if it's a cold kinda thing, and they seem to be eating/playing fairly normally, they go!

Of course, your kid could have no fever but no energy, then I'd keep them home.

It's tough though, isn't it?

[OakShannon]

Thanks for the feedback! Based on your common sense advice, I think we're okay to go with lots of Kleenex handy. Robandjulie - I know exactly what you mean about the spraying cough thing. That's what another little girl was doing into David's snack plate on Tuesday, and I wasn't thrilled about it. That's a definite "we're staying at home." At least until he's old enough to know to cough into his elbow.

Yes, Crick - They do seem to be full of snot until age 5-7, don't they? I've noticed that . . . Not my little darling, naturally. See, no one had ever pointed out the clear snot / cloudy snot rule to me. Now I can be a good, responsible mom.

[crick]

Well you are already doing better than I did! I didn't know until after a number of times that you need to be on antibiotics for 24 hours (for contagious stuff) before going back to school. Our first pedi never mentioned that...ooops.

I'm sure my kids infected others with strep unwittingly. Yikes!