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Your policy on bringing your kids out when they're sick???
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Just wondering about this as it’s been a topic of discussion amongst our friends lately. Can you share under what circumstances you would bring your children out? For example:
Would you take your child out (church, shopping, etc.) if they had a cold?
Would you if they had a fever?
What about if they’d been vomiting within the last few hours?
What about not presently vomiting but needing a bucket “just in case”?
It seems there is a very wide difference in opinion as to what is appropriate. I’d love some input.
Cold – not at the height of it, but when recovering yes.
Fever – no, not until 24 hours fever-free
Vomiting – no, not until at least 24 hours vomit free
Colds–I think it would depend. I don’t leave my babies in the nursery at church when they have a cold, but I do take them and keep them with me unless it’s a very bad cold. When my biggers have colds they usually do just about everything the same. But I’m thinking of the kind of colds where you need tissues–not when you’re sneezing all over the place, have a fever, or feel unwell.
Fever–they don’t go anywhere till 24 hours fever free at least.
Vomiting–if they’ve had a stomach virus, I learned recently that it’s best to keep away from others for at least 72 hours AFTER the last symptom has passed. (Diarrhea, vomiting, etc.) Gastroenteritis is very, very contagious and the symptoms can sometimes be spread for up to two weeks after the symptoms have passed!
I can’t imagine taking my child anywhere with a bowl in tow, “just in case”! Yikes! The thought was so ridiculous it made me laugh out loud.
Since my dad was on chemo and a good friend of mine had a bone marrow transplant, I’ve been very cautious. I don’t take my kids anyplace if they seem to have anything contagious. There are some people out there who really, really can’t afford even a mild cold, and it’s not fair that they have to stay in THEIR houses all the time. If my kids have an active cold, with obvious coughing and sneezing, then they are shedding virus. No go. If they have a sore throat, they stay home. Fever free for at least 24 hours. No vomiting for at least 24 hours. Anything less seems to me very inconsiderate of those with immune system problems.
We stay home if there’s anything contagious in the house as well. It’s really the only fair thing to do.
Funny that this should come up today. I stayed home from church with my son who has a runny nose. I will go to stores and such with sickness like a cold (if they are miserable, then, no I would not take them anywhere). As for fever and vomitting…I never take them out till I see they are 100% better.
Runny nose, fever, cough, sore throat, even a headache can be the beginning of some type of sickness, especially in my kids= stay home, no jumping around, etc.
Vomitting/diarrhea or have been sick like that=stay home for at least 24 hours symptom free (actually I wouldn’t take my kids out until they were 100% better, and they were visibly better (eating solids, etc.) and could verbalize that. No way would we purposefully go anywhere if they even thought they had to have a bucket or had diarrhea, no way!
My husband is even more strict than I am. He doesn’t think you should ever knowingly be out sick and pass your germs around and hates to take our kids anywhere if they are even the slightest bit sick.
My inlaws have compromised systems and will insist the kids do not come over if they have even a runny nose, etc., so we respect that. At their age they cannot afford to get sick and these days seem to become more sick than they did years ago. My mom, same thing. She cannot afford to get sick as it can last 1-2 weeks and she is so miserable. We always let them know and give them the opportunity to decline visits or whatever. I know that they go out in public and are exposed to so many germs, etc., but knowing the kids (or we) are sick and knowingly passing our germs is would be kind of rude.
I was going to add that it’s not just for my kids’ sake that we don’t go out, but for the sake of others.
I must say, I think this is why so much illness is passed around at daycares and schools! Why would you even consider taking your children out when they’ve been vomiting or are otherwise sick? A cold, like others have said, it depends on how bad it is. I have kept my children home from church and other activities if it’s bad enough that all they can do is blow their nose or sneeze and not function at least somewhat normally. If it’s just a mild cold, they’ll probably come with me, but we are very careful of their sneezing or runny noses in that case.
Anyway, there you have it – my $.02.
I’d have to agree with everyone else.
Fever or vomiting or both: no go until at least 24 hours free of symptoms
Cold: depends on the severity. Just a runny nose-depends on the severity, IF we go my littles stay with me. Coughs-depends on the other symptoms-some of my kids can have coughs for weeks after a cold so then we go but if it’s with other symptoms we stay home.
I know we REALLY appreciate it when others are considerate. My youngest son had brain cancer and we had to be SO careful with virus’ as he could get really ill and if his blood count numbers didn’t improve (both the chemo and virus/bacteria can make it low) it could postpone his cancer treatments.
This child also had feeding issues related to his treatments to the extent that we were considering a feeding tube. He was exposed to hand, foot and mouth disease by a mom who didn’t keep her child home for the full 24 hours after a fever broke. He got it and had horrid blisters in his mouth and throat. He quit eating again and once the virus was gone with had to start all over with his feeding. VERY frustrating!We also have a child with severe asthma and have been in the ER so many times because people brought their kids to church or elsewhere with definite cold symptoms and my son got it and got SICK!
-Rebecca
In agreement with the others as well. We’ve been through periods of no insurance mixed with unemployment here and there over the past few years and I used to get so frustrated when someone would bring a child to church with any kind of illness. It is very inconsiderate and selfish in my opinion to do that. Many people have no insurance and no means to pay for a doctor’s visit.
This is one reason that it’s a shame the days of women being at home while their children are growing up have gone. Too many women, especially single moms, cannot afford to take days off to stay home with a sick child, so where does the sick child go? To daycare, to school, or sometimes to stay with an older relative who is likely to get sick….it’s really unfortunate, and it impacts the other students, teachers, daycare providers.
My niece and her husband adopted a baby who was born last April. My niece is a teacher, so she took family leave through the end of the school year, of course took the summer off, then went back to work in the fall. They put their 4-month old son in daycare. When we saw them at Christmas, the baby had a cold with a bad cough. (So much for enjoying holding him!) His dad commented that “he’s been sick ever since he started daycare.”
Think about how terrible you feel when you’re sick. Would you ever want to intentionally do that to someone else? Well, that’s what happens when we (let’s not let us adults off the hook either) or our kids go out in public when sick.
We often do so because we’re tired of staying home or because we have some duty that we’re afraid will fall apart without our presence. In essence, we think too highly of ourselves and not of others.
It’s just plain selfish and rude.
With my daughter’s weakened immune system I am really quite troubled when I see obviously sick kids and adults out and about – it is inconsiderate and if they saw the way a minor illness can cause distress to my daughter maybe they would think twice. Therefore I think it is unacceptable to inflict illness on someone else, and in some case like my daughter and Bookworm’s dad’s situation it is dangerous – so lets not do it.
I agree with everyone else that it is not only wrong to take your kids out for their own sake, but for the sake of others who have compromised immune systems.
I don’t understand why people would even wonder? Our DD has complex heart disease and even a bout of pneumonia could quickly become quite serious for her. Thankfully, her immune system works well thus far, but really does make me frustrated when people take sick kids (or themselves sick) out to the store or whatever.
We even are not allowed to take DD in the sick waiting area at our ped’s office. We are taken straight back to a room when we visit. Obviously, people have to bring sick children out to the dr. so this is how we handle it there.
I can’t imagine taking a bucket with you (and your children) UNLESS you are taking them to the dr. Even though, it is really best to wait it out unless a child is dehydrated in which case you head straight for the ER not the dr.
Good question and glad to see all here err on the side of caution and respect for others.
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