How do you decide if your kid is sick enough to stay home from school?

My mom’s rule of thumb was if I wasn’t running a fever, contagious, or throwing up I went to school.

And all-in-all I’m thankful for her not allowing me to stay home, make-up works a major PIA

Back when I was still in school I would have to be contagious or in serious pain to stay home. They also let me stay home when it was a sickness that made it necessary for me to go to the bathroom often like diarrhea or any sickness that includes vomiting. A lot of teachers limit the number of times (especially in middle school) a student can go to the bathroom (like 3 times a quarter) so that last bit is especially important.

Fevered or “throwin’ and goin’.
Otherwise, saddle up that backpack.

I can see it in my kids eyes if they need a day off.
Sometimes I tell them to stay home if they look worn out.
Sometimes I let them stay home just so we can go to lunch together (this only happens once or twice a year).
As long as their grades are good and missing a day won’t be a big issue, I let them stay home if they honestly feel like crap. They have to rest though, no computer, texting, or video games. They don’t fake sick if they know they have to stay in bed and stare at the ceiling.

My mom let me stay home whenever I wanted to. She’s a big believer in “mental health” days, although I rarely took her up on it. I don’t know if it’s because of her attitude that I hated to miss school, but occasionally she’d have to force me to let her take my temperature because I wanted to go even though I was sick. And it’s stuck – I’m a senior in college and almost NEVER miss a class. Same with my siblings. Maybe we’re genetically inclined to enjoy school – or at least fear not going! :)

They see us going to work when we have a cold, so they aren’t upset about going to school when they have one.

Throwing up and fever are obvious. We’ve been trained since preschool that they have to have a normal temperature for 24 hours before going back. However, and I’ll deny it if you repeat this, we have been known to dope them with Tylenol or ibuprofen.

But here is the gray area: stomach aches. Which stomach aches are signs of incipient puking, and which ones are “I don’t wanna go” stomach aches? With my daughter, it’s easy. She doesn’t fake it. With my son, it’s not so easy. He doesn’t like school. So he may be feeling a twinge bad, and he’ll see if he can get away with it. He often feels stomach aches which aren’t anything.

The last time he had a stomach ache, we sent him to school anyway. I got a call later that day. He had thrown up at school.

I thought this article was interesting regarding the utility of keeping sick kids home from day care.

I always let my sons stay home if they say they are not feeling well. Luckily this doesn’t happen often, but even if I felt like they were just trying to get out of school, I let them stay home. They both receive straight A’s in high school, so I understand some of the pressure that comes along with that and the need to just take a break now and then. If they didn’t do so well in school, it would probably be a different story.

Generally we adhere to Caly420’s mom’s rule of thumb: if a kid isn’t running a fever, contagious, living on the toilet, or throwing up, it’s off to school.

When my daughter says she is too ill to go to school she is correct. In fact, I sometimes have to chase her down with a thermometer and force her to stay home. She likes school and hates to miss a minute. If she does stay home for illness she is asleep in her bed all day.

My son is another story. He hates school and every single morning he is too tired, too sick, or too something to go to school. So far I have never yet had him sent back home for illness, although he has been suspended and sent home for bad behavior. He does go to the nurse’s office almost daily, but she also adheres to no fever, no pass as long as I am the one to first voice it. Those few times he did stay home he refused to stay in his bed and magically felt so much better that I have become extremely sceptical.

Of course, this is a kid who walked around for two days with a broken arm because he didn’t want to miss the big football game, and who, once discovered and treated, removed his cast with a kitchen knife within three days.

This morning the kid was coughing like crazy, it seemed the minute he got the go ahead to stay home he felt better. School is out and his brothers are playing outside and he is 100%. He is very unhappy with his mother because I won’t let him go out and join them. Argh!

@SuperMouse – As well you should. Stick to your guns! Next time maybe he will think twice about being “sick” when he really isn’t.

Boy says his stomach hurts. Parents say if stomach hurts, boy needs to go to bed now. Boy doesn’t want to go to bed. Next thing you know, boy is asking for ice cream. Parents say if boy’s stomach hurts, ice cream is not good for it, so no. No ice cream. Boy decides that maybe stomach doesn’t really hurt. Ice cream and playtime win out. Well, except when boy has homework. If he doesn’t go to bed now, he has to do his homework.

ask them do you want to go get ice cream or something that she/he enjoys doing and if they say yes then tell them get ready youre going to school!

Even when I was throwing my guts up my mama sent me to school even with a sore throat that would turn into a strep throat. So sometimes please understand that they need time out when their sick just like adults do and that they can`t handel it like adunlts can.

my mum doesn’t have too strict of a sick criteria, so sometimes i do take mental health days, and (rarely) i take a day off here and there if i just did not have time to study (blahblahblah irresponsible, whatever). however she is serious about schoolwork, and because she lets me stay home when i ask, i don’t take a lot of days off. knowing i can, i try not to take too much advantage of it. she offered to let me stay home tomorrow because it’s a half day, but i’m going because i don’t want to get behind on anything, and i missed a day 2 weeks ago.

But she started to loosen up I guess she just didnt want me to miss so much school that i decided to drop out and I am very glad she was just watching my back.

Lately, I’ve had the “you had better be holding your head in your hands” rule. Mainly because of the people that are sending their children to school really sick! Three cases of strep last week, and yes, I know it can spread fast. So far, knock on wood, we’ve been spared.

My rule is as follows: There are just some clear signs with my kids – I know they aren’t faking when I see those. Other than those signs, if abnormal stuff is coming out of either end – stay home. Temp and/or swollen red (splotchy) tonsils – stay home.

If it is borderline, I say try school and usually, we don’t hear a peep from either of them. Neither try to stay home, so it’s rare when they truly do ask. My son went through about 3 weeks of trying to stay home, but that was at the beginning of school and he’s in kindergarten. He just missed being home.

I must give him credit for trying to miss when he had a cold. “Mom, snot is just gross. Michael doesn’t like snot and thinks he’ll get sick, too. I need to stay home.” My bad mom response – “Son, I watched Michael eat a booger. Snot can’t gross him out, that much. You’re going. Send my apologies to Michael.”

If it’s a sore throught and they can barley talk don’t send the kid 2 school,my lil girl is 13 and she has a head ache,stuffy nose,isn’t hungry 2 much,but when a kid ask’s for ice cream or cake it dosent mean their faking sickness it just mean’s that their tummy is fine and my daughter isn’t going 2 school on Monday(btw it’s Saturday)even if she does feel fine missing one day isn’t gonna do anything and even if she has a test she can do it on a make up day for god’s sake if a child is sick don’t send them 2 school it only make’s thing’s worse