OV9

What is it with other parents sending their ill kids into school?

3 weeks before Christmas my son came home with a flu bug which then wiped out the whole family for a week. A week before Christmas he came home with a norovirus bug, that my daughter stayed with over Christmas day, meaning that we couldn't even spend that day with my elderly parents, less she pass it onto them.

Last week he came home with another cold.

And today at dropoff there was a Mum dropping off her year 1/2 child when she said he was ill, and brought Calpol along for the school to administer to him. He had a 'headache and a sore throat', and said that she might need to come back in and hour and pick him up if he's not feeling any better.

Unbelievable.

Did these idiots not learn anything from Covid? Do they really think that school is just a cheche for ill children? Do they even care how much their crotch spawn are spreading their germs to other children and their respective families.

So sick of other people's stupid behaviour.

You are - literally - sick of it

Aren't most of these catching before the symptoms show?

Schools are just incubation grounds for viruses anyway. They build up tolerance. If you don't want to be exposed to this petri dish, maybe home-school or get them adopted

It’s just the way it is, ours are pretty bomb proof but Nursery was an eye opener to children and snotty noses and illness.

Also, some people don’t get paid if they aren’t in work so I can see why kids go to school if they aren’t on deaths door.

Kids are just snot monsters!

Dave!

Sending your kids in when they're unwell is stupid, but it happens. A lot. As @V8Granite says not everyone can take time off to look after children or have other options.

Because parents don't want to babysit sick kids, they get the school to do it.

I've worked in education for years, and I think thats why I generally don't get ill, I've been bathing in the petri dish for so long now. Or I'm like Mr Burns that I've got every illness known to man, and they're all perfectly balanced.

A lot of it is pressure from the schools as it's a key Ofstead metric.

My son's school would phone us up and ask if we need "Family Support" if his attendance dropped below 92% per term (which in truth is only 3 or 4 days absence - 2 sickness incidents etc. We told them to do one - especially given he's Straight A's so it's not like his performance is dropping

Then you get punishment... sorry, withdrawal of rewards. Below 95% for the year, you can't go to the End of Year ball. Even now in his 2nd A Level year, if his attendance drops, he is not permitted to leave the school before 15:10

Jobbo wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 10:39 am Schools are just incubation grounds for viruses anyway. They build up tolerance. If you don't want to be exposed to this petri dish, maybe home-school or get them adopted

JIC. See what happened when everyone isolated from each other in Covid - first cold/flu season afterwards was horrific compared to normal.

Swervin_Mervin wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:01 pm

Jobbo wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 10:39 am Schools are just incubation grounds for viruses anyway. They build up tolerance. If you don't want to be exposed to this petri dish, maybe home-school or get them adopted

JIC. See what happened when everyone isolated from each other in Covid - first cold/flu season afterwards was horrific compared to normal.

All of that. Ours (and often by extension the wife and I) was constantly sick in the first couple of years of nursery, and now she's rarely sick. It's how the immune system works. Avoiding colds and bugs is just kicking the can down the road.

You should be thankful. Having children raises your life expectancy because of the immunity boost you get.

(For those that don't have children licking the seats of a London bus has the same effect)

Nursery and primary school was a nightmare for this. I can't believe how many bugs they brought home, but that's all part of the wonderful experience and getting their immune systems going in the right direction! Improves a lot in secondary school.

A lot of schools up here have a 48 hour rule now whereby if you're off for any health reason, you can't come back from a minimum or 48 hours to try and reduce this sort of thing. Kids these days....

Mito Man wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:28 pm (For those that don't have children licking the seats of a London bus has the same effect)

Mito is Clive Pringle...

Mito Man wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:28 pm You should be thankful. Having children raises your life expectancy because of the immunity boost you get.

It also significantly ages you, so it balances out

We’re not too bad in scouts as the kids are a bit older, but I know the younger sections semi frequently get “keep an eye on little Timmy, he’s been off school today bad”

Well wtf is he doing here??

jamcg wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 7:00 pm We’re not too bad in scouts as the kids are a bit older, but I know the younger sections semi frequently get “keep an eye on little Timmy, he’s been off school today bad”

Well wtf is he doing here??

When you tell Akela you will do your best, that means walking g through the snow with a fever so you don’t let down your troop.

Fight the good fight young Beavers

Dave!

jamcg wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 7:00 pm We’re not too bad in scouts as the kids are a bit older, but I know the younger sections semi frequently get “keep an eye on little Timmy, he’s been off school today bad”

Well wtf is he doing here??

I have always told parents, not at school, don't turn up to Scouts/Explorers etc. Unless they were off for a family event, but yeah, don't bring your plague ridden offspring in for us to deal with.

Thought I'd just hikack this.....behind a paywall but
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/a ... -dndkz9d8p

44 per cent of parents believed it was not their responsibility to teach their children how to read books.
24 per cent did not think toilet training was essential for those starting school …
48 per cent are not concerned if teachers spend time toilet training pupils rather than teaching them
34 per cent do not know how to listen or respond to simple instructions, teachers say. As a result they lose an average of 2.4 hours of teaching time every day

Those are insane statistics.

What are their sources?

Using Gavster's (excellent) paywall bypass method via https://archive.ph/

clik for story

Matty wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2025 11:52 am Thought I'd just hikack this.....behind a paywall but
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/a ... -dndkz9d8p

44 per cent of parents believed it was not their responsibility to teach their children how to read books.
24 per cent did not think toilet training was essential for those starting school …
48 per cent are not concerned if teachers spend time toilet training pupils rather than teaching them
34 per cent do not know how to listen or respond to simple instructions, teachers say. As a result they lose an average of 2.4 hours of teaching time every day

Those are insane statistics.

I’d like to see a cross reference of how many parents who fall into those categories are long term habitual uses of universal credit with no job and all the time in the world to teach their kids