It would seem like a simple decision. If your child is sick, of course they shouldn’t go to school or daycare. But besides the fact that it’s not practical to keep a child home for every sniffle, keeping a child home can be a real hardship for working parents — and it means that a child is missing out on learning and other activities. So it’s a decision that should be made as wisely as possible.
Key Takeaways:
- Any temperature of 100.4° Fahrenheit (38° Centigrade) is a fever, and children shouldn’t go to school with fevers.
- It’s unfair all around — to the child and the school or daycare — to send a child with vomiting or diarrhea no matter how well they might look to you.
- If your child has a sore knee or a mild headache but is otherwise acting okay, it’s likely fine to give some medicine and send them off.
“Any temperature of 100.4° Fahrenheit (38° Centigrade) is a fever, and children shouldn’t go to school with fevers. Not only are fevers a sign of some sort of infection, it also usually means that they are shedding germs right and left.”