Fighting the "Circle of Sickness" that lives in the public school system

They say that by the time your child reaches a certain age that they will grow out of being sick during the school year. If for some reason you are like me, you have found yourself with your fair share of doctor visits for your child during the course of the school year.  Upon taking my child to school this year and walking her into her class, I have seen many children with bad mucus producing deep chest colds. They have really hard coughs in which you can hear the mucus in their chest and runny noses. Some people say that this is normal. I have a concern about that.

While some colds may be normal, could it be a possibility that not all are? Some colds can produce so much mucus and develop a bacterial infection inside of the body that the bacterial infection must be treated with antibiotics. Some of these types of issues are contagious for a period of time while being treated. My question is; at what point do we keep our child out of school to avoid spreading a possible germy infection or virus to other children. Now, we all know children will be children. They will sneeze, wipe their runny noses with their hands, touch other kids, cough and spread germs without thinking about it. They are our little darlings. We love them and want them healthy. What can we do as parents to work together to ensure that our child is not a risk to other children?

It seems as though some parents send their child to school no matter what their physical state is?  These children have to be sent back home by a school nurse in order for the parent to realize that their child needs a doctor visit. But, by that time, the damage has been done. The cold, virus, germ, infection has been passed to so many kids that it is virtually unstoppable and becomes a circle of sickness.

What can we parents do in a joint effort to ensure our children’s health and safety from the circle of sickness that breeds and lives in our schools?  At what point do we keep our kids home for a doctor visit? Is there any harm in sending our children to school with mucus producing sneezes and coughs?  Why do parents send their children to school sick? Let’s talk about this. Is this normal?