When to Keep Your Child Home From School

It is always a tough call for a parent whether or not to keep your child home from school.  It often times feels like a lose-lose situation because school is unhappy if you send a sick child to school but then they are also unhappy when your child misses school.  So... what's a parent to do?  Here are some basic guidelines.

Your child needs to stay home if they have had a fever (temperature over 100.4) or vomited in the past 24 hours.  If they have a fever overnight but then wake up without one you still need to keep them home because the fever is likely to go up later in the day. Your child also needs to stay home if they are having discharge from their eyes.  If your child is diagnosed with strep they need to be on antibiotics for 24 hours before they return to school.  Also, if your child is too sick to be at school they should not be going to the store, McDonalds or any public place because they are contagious.

It is a good idea to keep your child home if they do not feel well enough to participate.  For example if they have an ear infection (which is not contagious) and were awake most of the night they need to stay home and rest.

Your child can attend school if they have a temperature of 99.  It is not a fever.  Also they can attend school if their runny nose is yellow or green. It is not a sign of infection.  With a cold virus the congestion and cough can last 1-2 weeks and clearly they can't stay home that whole time.  So, you can send them back to school when the feel well and are not running fevers.

If your child is missing a lot of school please come see us to see if we can help.  We are also happy to write an excuse for school when you are in the office so please let us know if you need one.