When to keep your child home from school

Your child wakes up hot with fever but no other symptoms. She seems hungry, eats a great breakfast, and after a dose of Tylenol, she is no longer feverish and is now jumping off the couch. Are you a mean mommy or an unethical daddy if you send her off to school? Maybe not. Last month we had the privilege to address an audience of early childhood educators at the Bucks County Association for the Education of Young Children’s annual conference about when a child should leave school for medical reasons. In our podcast, When to keep your child home from school, we share some of the medical scenarios we discussed with the teachers: fever, vomiting, diarrhea, head lice, and pink eye.

Guidelines are based on Managing Infectious Diseases in Child Care and Schools, 2^nd edition, Editors: Susan S. Aronson, MD, FAAP and Timothy R. Shope, MD, MPH, FAAP published by tThe American Academy of Pediatrics. 

 Happy listening. Some of the answers may surprise you…

Julie Kardos, MD and Naline Lai, MD

©2010 Two Peds in a Pod℠