With Wakefield Elementary School already in the news and on the state Department of Health’s (HEALTH) flu radar, should you worry if your child comes to you and says, “Mommy, I don’t feel so good. Do I have to go to school today?”

It can be a tough call especially if the night before everything was hunky dory and you don’t see a red throat, vomit, diarrhea, or other obvious sick day signs. We could all benefit from the extra rest a day off can give you but, you're the one who has to be at work, a doctor appointment, or do any number of other things that aren’t possible with a kid at home. However, you also don’t want to send your precious darling off to infect the classroom, or be on the receiving end of a sneeze that becomes the tipping point for their already stressed system.

The Parents Council figured it might be a good time to remind ourselves - and our readers - what you can do when you want to say “Suck it up honey. You’ll be fine once you get to school,” and not feel guilty about it.

Let’s start with the flu.

The flu is a contagious virus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the official flu season is November through March and wouldn't you know it, February has owned the title of the month with the highest incidents of flu since 1976. OMG! It's February now!

If you aren’t sure if your child - or you - has the flu, start by checking the “FACTS:”

• Fever, Aches, Chills, Tiredness, and Sudden onset

If you check three out of five FACTS, then you probably want to keep her home and call the doctor.

Other “stay home” stuff:

• Fluids erupting from any orifice are never a “send them in” kind of thing. You do know we mean vomit or diarrhea right?

• Conjunctivitis a.k.a. pink eye - or eye snot as my kids like to say.
• Fever of 100.5 or greater.

• Rash, the unexplained kind and especially if accompanied by a fever and/or sore throat.

• Ear infections especially if your child hasn't been treated, is in pain and can’t concentrate.

• Strep Throat, scarlet fever, chicken pox and any other diagnosed illness that needs to be treated by antibiotics, its at least 24 hours before you can send your kid to school and only if symptoms have subsided and with your doctor’s permission.

• Tummy aches if your child can’t keep fluids down, has a high fever, screams when you apply pressure - better call the doctor.

• Etc. - If your child is not acting “right”, has difficulty breathing, or is becoming dehydrated or lethargic; these could also be signs of something serious and are probably worthy of a doctor visit.

Let ‘em tough it out at school with:

• Runny nose, or “leaky faucet”, is the way many children respond to pollen, dust, chalk or simply a change of season. If it isn’t a common cold, then it’s an allergy and allergies aren’t contagious.

• Cough associated with allergies, mucus from head cold running down back of throat - not contagious  but still worth covering mouth for.

Lots of other things we could have included on either list above. But since we may have grossed you out with “eye snot” and visions other stuff erupting from your child’s mouth and…

Moving on - we thought we’d mention the boring precautions you should be taking every day to keep the whole family healthy.

• Prevention is the best medicine. Boring, no-brainer or not:

• Get a flu shot if you haven’t had one already.

• Cover your nose & mouth when sneezing and/or coughing; and

• Wash your hands with good ole’ soap and water. Believe it or not they are more effective and skin friendly than the anti-bacterial gels.

Other things to consider when assessing your child’s aches & pains:

Sometimes head and tummy aches can show up for no apparent reason. You might think “They just don’t want to go to school.” Depending on your child’s age, a head or tummy ache just might mean they are experiencing anxiety or having peer issues and don’t know how to tell you. Hopefully a heart-to-heart talk reassuring your child that if someone or something about school is bothering them - other than not liking the work - it’s okay to talk to you, a teacher or other adult at school and it can be worked out. Hopefully this will help ease the pain AND get them to school.

Don’t forget that tipping-point thing. There probably isn’t a parent alive that hasn’t sent their kid to school when they should have stayed home. No one ever said it was easy balancing family, work and everything else life may throw at us, but  erring on the side of caution when it comes to our children is usually the right thing in the long run. Keeping them home one day may just save you a week's worth of sick days.

What do you think?

• How do you tell if your child might be faking symptoms of the latest bug going around in an effort to hop on that stay-home band wagon?

• Have you ever kept your child home out of fear of them catching the Flu, Strep throat or whatever the latest note home from the school nurse is warning you about? 

We invite you to email us at skmomscouncil@gmail.com or use the comment area below to tell us what you think about this week’s article, what’s going on in your house or what parenting thing(s) you may be wondering about. None of us have a degree in parenting but we are an eclectic mix of parents and even a professional in the child care biz with first hand experience in lots of things from potty training to college applications. We’ve been there and back and always hope we haven’t screwed our kids up for life somewhere along the way. In other words... we are just like you so don’t be afraid to comment, ask questions or provide a tale or two of your own experiences that might help someone out or at least provide a laugh or two!