How to handle school truancy when your kid is sick
Working parents with no paid sick leave are trapped between school penalties for truancy and losing a day's pay to stay home. This lack of flexibility forces families to send sick children to school unless they are suffering from extreme illnesses.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Dosing sick children with Tylenol or fever reducers to meet attendance requirements
- 2Sending sick children to school to avoid truancy warnings or job loss
- 3Taking unpaid time off work to care for an ill child
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I'd keep my kid home but I keep getting yelled at for truancy every damn year. We can't win as parents either :(”source ↗
“My husband doesn't have sick leave AT ALL and neither does my mom. So I'm usually the only one who can watch my son if he's sick. And today I'm having to take a day off with no pay Cz I've used up all the sick leave I had!”source ↗
“So, this year he’s going to school every day except for the most extreme cases of being sick.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 3Why does my toddler only want me when I'm around?
- 7How to handle chores when your toddler demands attention