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When I was working, I was the often the only licensed RN on the unit. Had I just picked up and left my patients, not only would I have lost my job, I quite possibly might have lost my license.
Calling in an on-call nurse to cover me would have taken up to an hour, and then my commute time to the kids' school was nearly another hour. At this point, even making plans immediately would have rated me CPS bait in your book.
As for how I did handle it...honestly, I didn't. I was lucky to have obscenely healthy kids at the time, and the issue never came up. But just because I didn't have to make that call, I'm not going to trash those who did.
As for the youngest two...I don't work there now, and we homeschool. If somebody's sick, he can either do math with a barf bag next to him, or hang out on the couch and sleep through Spongebob. Math can wait, sometimes. Problem solved.
Your situation is where a judgement call comes in. If you got the call at say 12:30 and you know that you would barely get there before dismissial, then of course leave your child at school. However, if you got the call at 9:00 and can be to your child's school by 11:00, then of course you should pick her up.
Your example proves that in most cases these things occur very rarely (maybe one time a year) in healthy children. So, what exactly is the problem?
Your situation is where a judgement call comes in. If you got the call at say 12:30 and you know that you would barely get there before dismissial, then of course leave your child at school. However, if you got the call at 9:00 and can be to your child's school by 11:00, then of course you should pick her up.
Your example proves that in most cases these things occur very rarely (maybe one time a year) in healthy children. So, what exactly is the problem?
I think the problem, as with any parenting question, is when we assume our own circumstances dictate how others should react. "If I can do it, so can everybody else" sounds really good to the person saying it. But if that's a legitimate argument, all of y'all had better get ready to quit work, tie-dye some t-shirts, and homeschool middleschoolers on a ridiculously tight budget.
I think the problem, as with any parenting question, is when we assume our own circumstances dictate how others should react. "If I can do it, so can everybody else" sounds really good to the person saying it. But if that's a legitimate argument, all of y'all had better get ready to quit work, tie-dye some t-shirts, and homeschool middleschoolers on a ridiculously tight budget.
Why does everything have to be so extreme here on CD? Some of us are saying if your child is very ill, then pick them up (you or someone else). It's common sense. I gave some suggestions on how to handle it, however, everyone has different circumstances. In very extreme cases with older children, schools will allow the child to take a cab to the parent or home if the child has enough money (with parental persmission).
As a parent of an incredibly healthy child (lucky us!) who was rarely ill at all, much less at school, I'm curious as to how often most of your kids get sick. From the way many of you are posting in this thread, sounds like your kids are getting sick once a week or more. Honestly, how many times do you get the call from school to come pick them up?
In 14 years (pre-school through 12th grade), I got the call maybe 3 times at most. The last one was in high school. He fell in PE and his wrist looked swollen. He asked if he could sit out the rest of the class. The PE teacher called and said I should come in. I talked to my son, who said, "yeah, it hurts but if you're busy, I can wait until the end of the day". What a trooper .
I was a SAHM (best decision ever for our family), so needless to say, I was on my way almost before I hung up the phone . He was sitting in the office, looking a little pale and subdued. I could tell he was hurting. Xrays revealed the wrist was indeed fractured, requiring a cast and the whole nine yards.
My question is, how many times does the "Come get your child" call occur? Is our family just odd? If you get the call, maybe once a year, certainly you COULD get a pass from the job? By the same token, if your child is having illnesses frequently enough such that you're getting the call 2-3 times a month, perhaps it IS time for you to look into alternative methods of collecting that child.
To answer the OP again, I don't see how a school can FORCE a parent to collect a sick child, but on the other hand, I don't see why a parent should have to be "forced".
As a parent of an incredibly healthy child (lucky us!) who was rarely ill at all, much less at school, I'm curious as to how often most of your kids get sick. From the way many of you are posting in this thread, sounds like your kids are getting sick once a week or more. Honestly, how many times do you get the call from school to come pick them up?
In 14 years (pre-school through 12th grade), I got the call maybe 3 times at most. The last one was in high school. He fell in PE and his wrist looked swollen. He asked if he could sit out the rest of the class. The PE teacher called and said I should come in. I talked to my son, who said, "yeah, it hurts but if you're busy, I can wait until the end of the day". What a trooper .
I was a SAHM (best decision ever for our family), so needless to say, I was on my way almost before I hung up the phone . He was sitting in the office, looking a little pale and subdued. I could tell he was hurting. Xrays revealed the wrist was indeed fractured, requiring a cast and the whole nine yards.
My question is, how many times does the "Come get your child" call occur? Is our family just odd? If you get the call, maybe once a year, certainly you COULD get a pass from the job? By the same token, if your child is having illnesses frequently enough such that you're getting the call 2-3 times a month, perhaps it IS time for you to look into alternative methods of collecting that child.
To answer the OP again, I don't see how a school can FORCE a parent to collect a sick child, but on the other hand, I don't see why a parent should have to be "forced".
My kids are also extremely healthy. My oldest has been in school for five years, my youngest started school two years ago. Yesterday, I received my third call ever to pick up a sick kid.
That's not much help for a family who's just moved to the area and doesn't have three people willing to drop everything and pick up a sick kid.
Yep. We moved to our new area 2 wks before school started. I put down my old college roommate who is a friend who happens to live 45 min from the school (who has no children and would not know what to do with a sick kid) who happened to live in the area, and my in-laws who lived across the country. I figured if they could not reach me at home or on my cell, and could not reach my husband or he was out of town, then they certainly could reach my friend. If none of that worked, calling my inlaws would probably reveal more ways to get in touch with my husband through work and then someone at his office would help figure something out (we are military).
I, later on, was able to add more local emergency contacts as I met other parents. But at the get go, its not that easy.
There was a question of how many sick calls parents get. I think I have taken one or two in the past 3 yrs - I have a 4th, 1st and Kinder. We have had more full sick days than that.
Which begs the question: is it easier to take the entire day off (even if you have to use a sick day or go unpaid) than it is to go into work and ask to leave partway through the day. If you are not there in the first place, you can't have someone tell you you cannot go because: the phones need to be covered, the reception area needs to be covered, your skills are unique, no one else can stay to supervise, you can't leave your register til the manager feels you can, etc.... Just curious, because it has been mentioned some people give their kids Tylenol to mask a fever and then it wears off partway through the day.
These factors should be a consideration before you decide to have children. You are really putting yourself in a hard spot if you decide to have a child by yourself with no support and very little money. If this is the case, you need to find a job that allows you more flexability. At the very least, you should be making friends with your neighbors and exchanging babysitting services with them if you cannot afford to pay.
A child should not have to suffer in school when he/she is ill. Realistically, most children don't get ill in school very often (unless they have ongoing health problems). So, if you can't pick them up or have someone pick them up the 1 or 2 times a year it happens, then something in your life has to change.
If they started school at infancy, yes you'd be right
When you have kids you may be in a great financial position. Alot can change in the 5 years before they start school, though. Might lose a job, your job may suddenly transfer you across the country to a place you've never been and don't know anyone, you may have to spend your entire nest egg paying for an unexpected funeral, life happens fast and you can't predict some things. Its not always 1-2-3 easy.
By the time they start school your life may be very very different than it was when you first thought about having kids and thought for sure you'd be okay.
...If you know you can't leave work in an emergency situation, then you should provide the phone number of an emergency contact that could pick up your child. Our school requires this. I'm not talking about a paid caregiver, but a relative or friend that would do this free of charge.....
Have you ever moved to a new place where you didn't know anyone?
For some people getting to know new people isn't that easy (for a variety of reasons)
Just attempt to put yourself in other situations.
Your right that something should be done and in a dire emergency, hell ya, a way would be found, but if its not DIRE, then they gotta wait till I can get there. May be 20 minutes. May be an hour. Do my best. If its a real emergency, call 9-11 and I'll see them in the ER in a few minutes! Common sense.
Have you ever moved to a new place where you didn't know anyone?
Yes. Twice.
Given the example of "moving to a new place where you didn't know anyone", may I assume you'd build in some sort of get acquainted time? Certainly you wouldn't move on Friday and dump the kiddos at school on Monday morning with no break-in time? If the move is for work, can't one of you (assuming 2 parents) clear the schedule for that first week? Clearing the schedule allows you to be personally available if needed and also allows you to get signed up for a parenting group at school, where you can start meeting other parents.
SAHMs tend to volunteer for that kind of thing. Especially the SAHMs in your child's class.
Even though I myself was a SAHM, I still found this to be true. In both moves, people knew we were out of staters and volunteered to be our contact. It wasn't ideal, of course, because I knew nothing about these people. But it was still a nice gesture. And I made it a point to get to know them. Just as I made it a point to volunteer to be an emergency contact for other new parents when I could.
Honestly, though, I really don't think the majority of kids are in a new-in-this-state, don't-know-anybody, don't-have-any-relatives-for-1,000-miles situation. I have no statistics, but I'm willing to hazard a guess that most move-about kids are just a small minority of the total school population. If they do move, it's more likely to be a local move.
...but if its not DIRE, then they gotta wait till I can get there. May be 20 minutes. May be an hour. Do my best. If its a real emergency, call 9-11 and I'll see them in the ER in a few minutes! Common sense.
I'm getting the impression that the OP isn't talking about an hour wait. In my opinion, an hour or even 90 minutes isn't necessarily unreasonable. And if it's already 2pm, getting to school before dismissal may not even be possible.
I get the impression the OP is talking more about a kid getting sick sick (fever, sweaty, vomiting sick) at 10am and not being picked up at all .
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. He was sitting in the office, looking a little pale and subdued. I could tell he was hurting. Xrays revealed the wrist was indeed fractured, requiring a cast and the whole nine yards.
This has only happened to me three times
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