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.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Dosing sick children with Tylenol or fever reducers to meet attendance requirementsDid this help you?
- 2Sending sick children to school to avoid truancy warnings or job lossDid this help you?
- 3Taking unpaid time off work to care for an ill childDid this help you?
- 4Using personal days to delay return to workDid this help you?
- 5Having a partner take time off workDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, 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 ↗
“So I’ve been out for the entire start of this year due to maternity leave. I’m supposed to go back Monday, but my baby started daycare this week. So naturally, he caught Covid. He obviously can’t go back to daycare until he’s fever free without Tylenol for 24hrs.”source ↗
“My question is, if I have to go back and say I can’t come in Monday because he’s not cleared for daycare can they do anything to me?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 6Can you work from home with a baby without childcare?
- 12How do you manage a newborn and a toddler alone?
- 3How to handle after school meltdowns from an overtired child who won't nap