How many sick days does your school aged kid take in a year?

[eddy]

On average

Jack is in K and on his third sick day today. Ugh

I am worried we are going to end up taking a ton this year. Although November traditionally is always our sickest month.

[jinkies]

Mine is also in K and has already taken 2. Last winter was brutal on us, health wise. He missed a lot of daycare. I'm hoping that this winter us kinder to us, because I dont want him to miss that much school.

All this to say, 3 days so far doesn't seem extreme to me.

[thinkofthesoldiers]

We've had 3 for one kid so far and 0 for the other. I have no idea for the average. I'm pretty conservative and keep the kids home if they are running a fever or have been up coughing all night, etc. I just don't like the idea of being the family spreading illness around.

I hate when I see kids that are sick at school. I picked DD up a few weeks ago for a dentist appointment and there was another kid there getting picked up by mom. The mom said to the secretary, "We are just popping over to the doc. She had a fever last night and puked, but I sent her to school anyway since she seemed fine this morning and was only at 99.9." I wanted to tell her to fuck off. a) I don't want to do anything if I've been sick so I don't put my kids through that, and b) that's how illness spreads. I'm still pissed.

[eddy]

Nov 11, 2013 9:59:38 GMT -5 thinkofthesoldiers said:

We've had 3 for one kid so far and 0 for the other. I have no idea for the average. I'm pretty conservative and keep the kids home if they are running a fever or have been up coughing all night, etc. I just don't like the idea of being the family spreading illness around.

I hate when I see kids that are sick at school. I picked DD up a few weeks ago for a dentist appointment and there was another kid there getting picked up by mom. The mom said to the secretary, "We are just popping over to the doc. She had a fever last night and puked, but I sent her to school anyway since she seemed fine this morning and was only at 99.9." I wanted to tell her to fuck off. a) I don't want to do anything if I've been sick so I don't put my kids through that, and b) that's how illness spreads. I'm still pissed.

I am too so I think this is why I am feeling janky. I hate the thought of spreading illness and also I hate the thought of him sitting there feeling like shit. He is borderline today but I decided to keep him home. It is hard to make a decision before 8 am if they are well enough to handle a full day or not.

I hate second guessing myself.

[Deleted]

I don't know, but D has had 3 sick days so far too.  Don't beat yourself up about it.  Better to keep him home if he's sick. 

[Deleted]

We used to get 10 sick days a year. If by the end of the school year we hadn't been sick all 10, my mom would take us out of school for the last few and we would go do something fun. I have some great memories of those days. Sorry, I know this has nothing to do with sick kids.

[eddy]

Also we are planning a family vacation during the school year this year. We can get it excused if it is a family vacation i and there aren't other unexcused absences. Even though illness is excused, I don't want to appear as if I am abusing the system. I know that is silly as you can't help when your kid is sick.

But I want to go on my vacation dammit lol.

[prettyinpink]

I have one that has missed 5 days in a row, plus 2 other days before he got really sick. Our school allows us to send work home for them so he didn't get too far behind ( I'm a high school teacher). I'd rather send work home for them and not have a sick child in my classroom. This one spend the one day he was back before the 5 days out asleep during my class, at 16 years old. Just keep them home if they are sick.

[texassmith]

Neither kid has missed any school yet. They are shockingly resilient against germs.

[jaylea]

None last year. One so far this year.

[eddy]

Nov 11, 2013 10:43:42 GMT -5 jaylea said:

None last year. One so far this year.

Damn none last year. That is impressive!

Jack has always been so hardy when it comes to illness. But Leo is bringing home all of these pesky new illnesses and poor Jack keeps getting taken down. Younger brothers ruin everything!

[jaylea]

Well, 5 years in daycare and a mother who makes you an obsessive (not really) hand washer helps. . She had colds, just nothing beyond that. No fevers or anything.

This year she had a fever so I kept her home one day to make sure she was good.

[balletofangels]

We consider under 10 normal too, but it really varies especially in K. If a kid hasn't been in any sort of daycare or prek they tend to miss a TON of school because they catch everything when they first start.

[savan]

I think DS missed 3 total last year. None so far this year.

[jaylea]

It's all luck of the draw.

[looseseal]

Ten could be average?! Ugh, when I have two kids in school I will never get to take a day off except for taking care of sick kids, will I? Hope the rest of your year is very healthy!

[eddy]

Nov 11, 2013 11:09:06 GMT -5 looseseal said:

Ten could be average?! Ugh, when I have two kids in school I will never get to take a day off except for taking care of sick kids, will I? Hope the rest of your year is very healthy!

This is what I am struggling with. Both kids are obviously not sick at the same time. H is swamped at work so it is all me baby.

I really hope we don't hit anywhere close to 10. I hope he is just taking his knocks now and his immunity is just building up to this year's crud.

[bab]

Maybe 4 or 5? It is hard for me to keep track between the two of them. I think both of them have been out 1 day so far this year.

[auntie]

DS used to average about 5 sick days in the primary grades. He missed 2-3 in middle and high school.

[lulu13]

So far (they are in 5th and 3rd) they each take about 1 or 2 sick days per school year. Fever = staying home.

[daisyheadmaizie]

DD has missed 3 already. 2 when her eardrum ruptured and one for a fever/cough. She is in kindy and hasn't being any sort of school or daycare setting before. I figured this would be a rough year illness wise for her.

[litebright]

I think DD1 has missed one, maybe two? DD2 has missed a week, but part of that was that my parents were visiting, so even though she was probably fine to go to preschool after the first two days, we kept her home so she could spend extra time with them.

DD2 tends to have respiratory things linger longer than DD1.

[coribelle26]

The school where I work allows 7 per semester before requiring make-up time, 10 per semester before there's a chance of losing credit in classes. Obviously they make exceptions for hospitalizations or extended illnesses like mono and pneumonia.

[revolution]

DD has taken 1 so far (and that was for lice, not actually sick). But I would plan on more from her. My family seems to be constantly sick December and January, so our peak time hasn't hit yet. She gets 5 before a note comes home that she has taken a lot. After 7 (I think 7) we have to get a doctors note for school.

[revolution]

Nov 11, 2013 10:20:00 GMT -5 eddy said:

Also we are planning a family vacation during the school year this year. We can get it excused if it is a family vacation i and there aren't other unexcused absences. Even though illness is excused, I don't want to appear as if I am abusing the system. I know that is silly as you can't help when your kid is sick.

But I want to go on my vacation dammit lol.

Don't feel guilty about this!  Go and have fun!  I completely plan on taking advantage of the educational excused days when we go on a big vacation.

[DotAndBuzz]

N has missed 2 days so far. One when she was genuinely sick, and the other to recover (was at the ER getting hydrated until like midnight, so although she was "better," the kid needed to rest for a day). I'd guess on average N missed maybe 5-6 days in preschool each year, BUT she only went MWF. 

E has missed one, I think. But it is just half-day preschool, so I'm not all that concerned if she misses days here and there. They're pretty low-key about things. 

ETA:  They both also missed 2 for our vacation, but apparently they don't care at this stage why you're out.  I asked the school secretary if I needed to do anything for excused vs unexcused vs vacation/whatever, and they were like NOPE! Call us on the first morning she'll be out, let us know, and have a GREAT trip!  Her teacher said the same (actually, she told us to pull her out for a week or so, and go overseas if we can, lol), so no guilt here for taking a trip.  I say enjoy the vacation eddy.