Nobody tells you this before the first year of preschool, so we will. A perfectly healthy young child catches eight to ten colds a year, and most of them land between October and March. The first winter of group care is simply like that, for almost everyone.
Still, "everyone gets sick" is not the same as "send them in regardless." Here's how we think about the daily judgment call.
The keep-home short list
Keep your child home if any of these is true:
- a fever within the last 24 hours
- vomiting or diarrhea within the last 24 hours
- a new, unexplained rash
- they're simply too miserable to play, which is the truest test at this age
The parent handbook has the official illness policy, and where this post and the handbook differ, the handbook wins. This is the friendly translation, not the rulebook.
Ready to come back when
The handbook standard is the one most pediatricians use: 24 hours fever-free without fever-reducing medicine, keeping food and drink down, and enough energy for the whole day, playground included. A child who needs medicine to look well isn't well yet. One more quiet day at home usually saves three later.
The gray zone
A clear runny nose on a happy, hungry, playing child? Come to school. That describes half the building from Thanksgiving to spring break. A kid who seems fine but spent breakfast with their head on the table should probably stay home.
When you genuinely can't tell, call the office before drop-off. We would much rather help you make the call at 8 in the morning than make the sad phone call at 11.
What we do on our end
We wash hands constantly, after the playground, before snack, and after every glitter incident. Toys rotate through washing cycles, teachers air out rooms and get the children outside every day, and our staff usually notice a child who's off before the thermometer does. We'll always call you early rather than late.
The long game
Every sniffly February has a silver lining. Kids who do their germ apprenticeship in preschool tend to sail through the early grades with fewer sick days. You're not just wiping noses this winter. You're pre-paying kindergarten's health bill.
For medical questions, your pediatrician is always the right answer. For policy questions, the handbook. For the 7:45 judgment call with a thermometer in one hand and car keys in the other, call us. We've made that call a thousand times, and we're happy to make it with you.
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