Should my sick child stay at home?

Your kid wakes up feeling lousy and complains of a stuffy head and sore throat. Should you keep him home or send him off to school?

Parents weigh many factors when deciding if a child is too sick to go to school. Here is a list of conditions commonly given by schools nurses that parents might use in deciding when to keep their child at home.

• an undiagnosed fever or rash
• chicken pox
• conjunctivitis (pinkeye)
• head lice
• untreated strep throat
• chronic gastroenteritis

Of course, kids can look and feel fine when they leave for school in the morning, but then crash hours later with the onset of some illness. Parents obviously can't predict such sudden sickness, but they can make sure every child knows to go to the teacher if he or she feels ill. Although that may seem like obvious advice, it often doesn't happen.

School nurses also tell parents that children with a low-grade fever should not be given a dose of acetaminophen or paracetamol and bundled off to school. The medicine may temporarily reduce the fever, but it may only mask the symptom of an infection that might be passed to other children.

(Susan Erasmus, Health24)