Falling sick while growing up is a part and parcel of childhood. The basic rule that most doctors and households follow is if you have a fever you can stay home from school. Of course some kids fake aches and pains so that they get to skip going to school.
Here are 4 reasons for which you should keep your kid from school:
1) Pink eye (Conjunctivitis)
Pink eye are highly contagious. Viral pink eye will run its course whereas bacterial pink eye can be treated with antibiotics. Children should be kept home while there’s pus discharge and until they have been on antibiotics for at least 24 hours.
2) Sore throat
Sore throats are usually caused by viruses. If a sore throat doesn’t go away within a week and is accompanied by a fever or tonsillitis, consider strep throat. Strep throat is bacterial and so you’ll need antibiotics to cure it. Send your child back to school after their fever is gone and after they have been on the antibiotic for more than 24 hours.
3) Cold, cough, fever or ear infection
Colds are easily spread by contact with infected droplets in the air. Ear infections can start with a cold. Colds are so common that if kids stayed home every time they had one they’d never graduate. If they are coughing hard, which can spread the infection, or have trouble breathing, keep them home. Even an ear infection or a fever exceeding 100 degrees will keep a child at home. Most ear infections clear on their own so gauge your child’s discomfort level before sending them.
4) Stomach flu
Stomach flu spreads through contact with an infected person or by eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Children with stomachaches should stay home if they’ve vomited more than twice over a 24-hour period or have diarrhea or fever.
The Academy of Pediatrics Committees on Infectious Diseases and School Health recommend that a child with minor illnesses go to school unless they are irritable, lethargic, have mouth sores causing difficulty swallowing, have a rash with fever or are exhibiting behavioral changes. When there is no fever and when they can eat and drink normally and they’ve had enough rest, the party’s over.
