When Should Your Kid Stay Home Sick From School?

It's the time of year for runny noses, sinus congestion, sore throats, constant coughing and high fevers. But when your kid seems sick, how do you know if they're well enough to go to school?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention point out that kids with the flu should stay home to reduce the risk of spreading the infection to others. Children with the flu should stay home and rest, see the doctor if necessary and should only return to school once their fever is gone for at least 24 hours without the aid of medication.

But what about those times when your kid doesn't have the flu but still doesn't feel great? In a survey published Monday from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, researchers found that parents struggled to decide when to keep kids home and when to send them to school.

"Parents often have to make a judgment call about whether their child's sickness warrants staying home," said lead author Dr. Gary Freed.

Parents reported good reasons for keeping their children home from school: an illness might get worse, and the infection might spread to peers and teachers.

According to the survey, 75 percent of parents kept their children home in the previous year. Diarrhea and vomiting were the most likely symptoms to convince parents to hold their kid at home. When kids had less intense symptoms, such as watery eyes or runny nose, parents were more willing to send their children to school.

"It can be difficult to predict if a child will feel worse after going to school or how long symptoms of minor illnesses will last, so parents are often basing decisions on their best guess," Freed says.

And many individual considerations factor into a parents decision. Can they afford to miss work? Can they find someone else to care for the child? While older children may be able to take care of themselves at home, younger children cannot.

It's important to note that even though 98.6 degrees is defined as the normal body temperature, the CDC defines a fever as 100 degrees or above. So under its guidelines, a child with a temperature of 99.5 degrees would not necessarily have to stay home.

How do you decide to send your kids to school or keep them home when they're sick? Let us know in the comments.

Photo credit: Zoghal via Flickr