School-aged kids: how often do they miss school?

[traveltheworld]

I'm trying to get a feel of what is considered normal.  DS has a bad cold.  Every time he has a cold, he also spikes a fever and then coughs pretty consistently for a few days.  It's the coughing that really wears him out and he whines a lot and is generally very miserable (he typically also can't sleep at night), so we keep him home.  But I just realized that today would mark the 6th day he'd missed this year.  He missed 3 days in November for the same thing.  And it doesn't seem like he'd be able to go tomorrow either, so that'd make 7 days.

I always think of him as pretty healthy, but 7 - 8 days seems like a lot to me.

DD always gets the same cold, but since she doesn't have the coughing issue, she generally just goes.

[sandandsea]

They pretty much don’t. Ds1 missed one day of K last year as we took him out to attend his race (extra curricular that involves travel). He also left early one day due to a concussion at recess but they didn’t count it since it was less than half the day. This year, he’s missed one day due to illness.

I’m not really anti taking him out, but they have lots of time off and we can plan our trips around the school schedule and make an effort to do so.

Unless he has a fever or really is off from a cold I don’t Keep him home. He’s also been in daycare forever so he hasn’t been sick much since starting school. And when he has it always happens on breaks.

[186momx]

Very little. We missed 2 days in K, none in 1st and so far none this year in 2nd. She tends to get sick over breaks or the weekends. I also send unless she has a fever, diarrhea, contagious. That said most of the kids in her class seem to miss at least 1 or 2 days a month if not more. For us it is really hard to stay home when DD is sick especially during tax season so my level of you are fine go to school is probably way different than a stay at home parent or a parent that has easy sick care arrangements.

[mae0111]

DD1 gets a lot of respiratory stuff. She used to get lots of strep, but had her tonsils out. If she just has s cold, I send her. But she’s had flu twice and pneumonia twice. No major sickness this year so far, so missed 2 days for illness and one for a 3 hour lactose test.

DD2 is coming off the flu now. She’s been out all week. She missed one other day for illness and one when she broke her wrist. I tend to let her stay home longer since I’m not working right now. And she’s in K, so it’s not like she’ll miss physics.

[k3am]

For illness, we miss for fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. For DD, that has been zero days so far, knock on wood. I can’t keep a kid home for a cold or coughing.

DD has also missed 1 day for a family vacation, 1 for a wedding, and will miss 2x this year for MRI’s.

[waverly]

I dont keep them out for coughing unless we go to the doctor and he directs me to do so.

For mine respiratory viruses often result in wheezing or viral induced asthma, so I keep on top of that with breathing treatments with our nebulizer and oral steroids.

DD has not missed st all this year in K. DS has been out 2 days- 1 fever and 1 asthma. Last year he wasn’t sick at all and DD missed 2 days for bronchitis.

Their immune systems are pretty good from all the daycare germs finally.


They both missed for a wedding. DS was sick over winter break. We planned spring break vacation to match their calendar exactly. That is our goal to not take them out at all for vacations, but obviously we had to take them out for the wedding.

[CrazyLucky]

I think 7-8 is pretty typical. Both kids just missed a full week with the flu. (And yes, they got heir flu shots). Last year, besides the typical sicknesses, we took a week off for Disney. I got a letter from the school social worker because that put DD over 10 days, which apparently triggers some possible consequences. She stayed home today after puking last night, so that's 6 so far this school year. I don't know how those perfect attendance all the way through school kids do it.

[mommyatty]

Mine miss probably 3-5 days per year. I would send them to school with a cough. Coughs just linger.

[traveltheworld]

For some reason DS's coughs are always really bad...like he'd cough every 2 or 3 minutes for hours. That lasts for 2 or 3 days until it turns into the more typical lingering cough. Today he threw up twice from all of the coughing. And since he can't sleep for more than an hour at a night at night, he's just exhausted. We also have a nanny, so that's why I'm wondering if I end up keeping him home more than necessary because it really isn't an issue for us.

[sdlaura]

DD is in 1st grade. In kindergarten, she missed one day of school for being sick (she threw up in the morning at school), and 3 days for fun stuff (2 for a family ski trip and one for Disneyland).

This year she hasn’t had any sick days (knock on wood) and has missed 3 days so far for family trips.

I think our number is sick days is low, from what I hear. She had been in full time daycare/school since 4 months old, so I think she’s immune to a lot.

[ilovelucyvv]

DD has missed 6 days due to family vacation in K so far. 0 due to illness

[2chatter]

Well, I have one that’s at 60 or so days absent this year. DS is around 5 - random fever and then this croup. Middle DD is around 3. Some years the younger two miss zero days. The policies here are punitive - if they knew about a test, they have to take it (even if out for all review and some content).

[justcheckingin73]

I almost don’t want to write this but neither kid has missed a day this year due to illness. Usually it’s a fever or pinkeye that has kept them out in the past but we are so very lucky and rarely get sick in this house. If they get a cold, they still go. I’m also lucky in that they don’t even ask to stay home when they have a cold, unless they have a fever and generally feel unwell. 

My sister’s kids on the other hand probably have the same amount of sick days. They tend to get strep throat and fevers and have had a lot of sick days over the last couple of years.

[rere]

7 is pretty average for DS. He missed a couple of days first semester. He is home today with a horrible cough. He didn't sleep at all last night, I know because he kept me up all night. If I didn't have class today, I would be home with him. Then you add the 2 so far appointments with the endocrinologist, and we are up to 6. Working in a schools, you have kids well into the double digits, so I don't think they would blink and eye at 7 as long as you called them in and they were excused.


DD will want to go to school if she has a limb missing.  Ds tries to milk staying home while the challenge with her is to get her to stay home if she is actually sick.  

[mae0111]

rere, my kids are similar. DD1 claims to be too sick to go to school at least 1-2 times a month (down from 3-4 times a week last year). She was so annoyed that her sister just missed 3 days of school.

DD2 had the flu and was like why am I still home? I miss my friends! Sorry, kid... 103 fever means a movie day in bed...

[covergirl82]

It depends on the year. DS has missed around 10 days due to illness some years. In K he had tonsillitis with a fever and missed a whole week. Last year in 2nd grade he had bronchitis that became walking pneumonia and missed a week straight, plus a couple additional days in the following weeks due to fever. I did get a doctor's note for DS when he went back to school after the bronchitis/pneumonia to keep him in for recess for a week to continue to let his lungs heal.

My kids will always stay home due to fever and vomiting (plus the 24 hours after the fever/vomiting has ended). For coughing without a fever, I would keep them home if the coughing was frequent enough to create a distraction in the class.

We've taken the kids out for a full week for a family vacation. (And then they've had illness days on top of those.)

[mustardseed2007]

DS has missed part of a day for a doctor's appointment and that's it....buuuut he's going to miss 4 days for vacation in April. This may be the last year I feel comfortable having him miss school for vacation so I'm living it up.

[librarychica]

DD1 has acid reflux and a touchy stomach so she tends to miss more time. She had actually only missed a day this year and then she missed 3 the week before last with a terrible stomach bug. I think last year she missed four. I would not look askance at 7. DD2 almost never gets sick. I was the same way in school. I rarely missed time, my brother caught everything.

I wouldn’t keep home for a cough in most cases but if it’s keeping them from sleeping and really wearing them out and they act ill, then yeah, I’ll keep them home. Either H or I can usually work from home so it isn’t a huge deal, thankfully.

[erbear]

Mine get a virus once a year and miss a day or two bc fever.

[peachy]

Feb 13, 2019 22:38:04 GMT -5 traveltheworld said:

For some reason DS's coughs are always really bad...like he'd cough every 2 or 3 minutes for hours. That lasts for 2 or 3 days until it turns into the more typical lingering cough. Today he threw up twice from all of the coughing. And since he can't sleep for more than an hour at a night at night, he's just exhausted. We also have a nanny, so that's why I'm wondering if I end up keeping him home more than necessary because it really isn't an issue for us.

Has he seen a doctor for thecough? Maybe a nebulizer or medication are in order. Sometimes sleeping elevated helps if it’s post nasal drip related.

[twinmomma]

I think usually 3-4 days per kid. It's usually a stomach bug that knocks them out for a couple days and that's about it. DD2 does tend to have a day or two more than her sister. She's more susceptible to fevers for some reason.

[madringal]

1-2 is normal for my kids. Personally I think 7-8 seems like a LOT, but I guess if they are sick, they are sick.

[mae0111]

I'm amazed at some of the 1-2 days per year people. I mean, my kids get fevers at least once a year now that they're older, but much more frequently when they were little. And if they wake up with a fever, that's at least 2 days out of school, usually more since it lasts at least a few hours (24 hours fever free without meds is the rule at their school).

DD1 has been sick literally since the beginning of January. She's been going to school, but she can't seem to get over this bug. We're going to the dr today. No school next week, so hopefully she can recuperate a bit...

[sdlaura]

mae0111 my kids get fevers relatively frequently as babies/small toddlers in daycare, but I honestly can’t think of the last time either of my older kids had a fever (ages 5 and 6). Maybe once for each of them in the last 2-3 years? I’m not sure why. We definitely get colds more frequently. Knock on wood because of course someone will get one now that I said that

ETA - now that I think about it, the whole family often gets illnesses that are typically accompanied by fever without the fever or only a low one. Like with HFM as toddlers my kids only had low fevers. And I got strep a couple years ago with no fever. Maybe a weird genetic thing? Hmmm....

[mae0111]

sdlaura - I think there’s probably something to genetics and fevers. DH’s family gets crazy fevers (not DH, but his dad, brothers, nephews). Like, 105, close to seizure type fevers. So I feel like my kids rarely get low-grade fevers, if they get them. It’s either no fever or “holy crap, pack them in ice” fevers. In fact, I had to put DD2 in the tub last weekend when her 103.5 fever continued to rise after ibuprofen.

Yay us. Fever champs 😐

[sdlaura]

mae0111 my sister’s kids are fever champs too. My BIL has rheumatoid arthritis and my sister was worried that maybe the really high fevers correlated with an autoimmune disease. She got them some kind of testing and was told they were fine.

[mommyatty]

mae0111, that’s my daughter too. Luckily, she responds extremely well to Tylenol, but I’ve taken her to the ER when it hit 104 and showed no signs of breaking. Of course, after we got there, the Tylenol kicked in and it immediately dropped to like 99:9, so I looked like a crazy person. Lol. DS on the other hand is a puker. Once he pukes once, he’s not stopping without meds. He now has a prescription for the anti nausea meds they give kids undergoing chemo. That keeps him from needing an IV. I’m not sure which is worse, puking until intervention or “oh my god is she going to have a febrile seizure” fevers. Luckily neither gets sick that often!

[nellgirl]

My kid isn’t school age yet, but I’ve taught for 16 years. Some kids miss 0-2 days, some are more like 10-12. If kids are sick, it’s way better to keep them home.
What bothers me is when they get pulled for extended vacations. We don’t have the same strict truancy rules that some of you seem to have. I currently have 4 kids on extended vacations (out of 26 kids). Two will be gone over a month, the other two 3 weeks. This is on top of sick days. It’s pretty hard to catch up from that.
ETA: a week doesn’t bother me, and we can get caught up okay. I don’t fault people for wanting to travel during the cheaper seasons. It’s the 3-5 weeks off and expecting me to provide all of the homework in advance (ummm, no) that gets me.

[traveltheworld]

Feb 15, 2019 2:49:17 GMT -5 peachy said:

Feb 13, 2019 22:38:04 GMT -5 traveltheworld said:

For some reason DS's coughs are always really bad...like he'd cough every 2 or 3 minutes for hours. That lasts for 2 or 3 days until it turns into the more typical lingering cough. Today he threw up twice from all of the coughing. And since he can't sleep for more than an hour at a night at night, he's just exhausted. We also have a nanny, so that's why I'm wondering if I end up keeping him home more than necessary because it really isn't an issue for us.

Has he seen a doctor for thecough? Maybe a nebulizer or medication are in order. Sometimes sleeping elevated helps if it’s post nasal drip related.

He was just "discharged" from his asthma diagnosis last month. According to his pediatric asthma specialist, he no longer has asthma. When we asked why he coughs like that, we got the whole "oh some kids are just like that" response. It does seem to be a pattern where he'd have 2 really bad days of coughing, be moderately ok by day 3, and back to normal by day 5.

Ironically all his colds seem to start on a Monday - so he has not missed a singled day of hockey this season since those are always on weekends.

[honeydew1894]

Ds (1st grade) has only missed one day this year. Last year, he missed ~3-5, but he also had an emergency appendectomy which accounted for 3 of the days.