Starting preschool/school

[ymikhale]

<P>My dd (3.5 y/o) will be starting preschool in a few days. While I realise that it is inevitable that she catches plenty of colds, I was wondering if I should still try to avoid people who are sick? We have been putting a lot of effort into it so far, but now I am asking myself whether I should keep her from seeing her friend who has a cold if she almost surely will catch it in school anyway. I will still avoid having sick people at my place, but other than that I am not sure if it is really worth it.</P>
<P> </P>
<P>What is your experience with your child?</P>thanks.

 

[ymikhale]

<P>My dd (3.5 y/o) will be starting preschool in a few days. While I realise that it is inevitable that she catches plenty of colds, I was wondering if I should stilltry to avoid people who are sick? We have been putting a lot of effort into it so far, but now I am asking myself whether I should keep her from seeing her friend who has a cold if she almost surely will catch it in school anyway. I will still avoid having sick people at my place, but other than that I am not sure if it is really worth it.</P>
<P></P>
<P>What is your experience with your child?</P>thanks.

 

[ymikhale]

<P><BR>My dd (3.5 y/o) will be starting preschool in a few days. While I realise that it is inevitable that she catches plenty of colds, I was wondering if I should stilltry to avoid people who are sick? We have been putting a lot of effort into it so far, but now I am asking myself whether I should keep her from seeing her friend who has a cold if she almost surely will catch it in school anyway. I will still avoid having sick people at my place, but other than that I am not sure if it is really worth it.</P>
<P></P>
<P>What is your experience with your child?</P>thanks.

 

[Ratatosk]

DS' went to daycare/preschool. We just tried to remind him not to touch his hands to his face. The preschool was great about hand washing and keeping surfaces sanitized. He still caught colds from time to time, but was probably one of the healthiest kids there.

I was more worried when he started kindergarten; however, they too stressed hand washing and reminding children not to touch each other. The one situation that still makes me uncomfortable is gymnastics 'cuz there's no way they can wash off those foam cubes or nor do they sanitize most surfaces. So I just make sure we wipe hands afterwards. Figure he needs to learn good exercise habits and socialization. I do know of parents who will keep their kids home during flu season or leave if they're in a situation where someone is coughing/visibly ill.

 

[Ratatosk]

DS' went to daycare/preschool. We just tried to remind him not to touch his hands to his face. The preschool was great about hand washing and keeping surfaces sanitized. He still caught colds from time to time, but was probably one of the healthiest kids there.

I was more worried when he started kindergarten; however, they too stressed hand washing and reminding children not to touch each other. The one situation that still makes me uncomfortable is gymnastics 'cuz there's no way they can wash off those foam cubes or nor do they sanitize most surfaces. So I just make sure we wipe hands afterwards. Figure he needs to learn good exercise habits and socialization. I do know of parents who will keep their kids home during flu season or leave if they're in a situation where someone is coughing/visibly ill.

 

[Ratatosk]

DS' went to daycare/preschool. We just tried to remind him not to touch his hands to his face. The preschool was great about hand washing and keeping surfaces sanitized. He still caught colds from time to time, but was probably one of the healthiest kids there.
<br />
<br />I was more worried when he started kindergarten; however, they too stressed hand washing and reminding children not to touch each other. The one situation that still makes me uncomfortable is gymnastics 'cuz there's no way they can wash off those foam cubes or nor do they sanitize most surfaces. So I just make sure we wipe hands afterwards. Figure he needs to learn good exercise habits and socialization. I do know of parents who will keep their kids home during flu season or leave if they're in a situation where someone is coughing/visibly ill.

 

[Mommafirst]

My experience has been to keep sick people out of my house, but like you said at school there will be plenty of kids with snotty, running noses. Alyssa has done well, and mostly we've just focused on hand washing or using purell and keeping fingers out of mouths and eyes.

I know its a big changeover when they are suddenly going to be regularly exposed to all this crud, but despite the yuck that comes along with a CF kid getting a cold, out kids usually have normal immune systems. Alyssa can still avoid a cold that others get, even if its in the house. And, she has had colds that were just colds and didn't kick up anything yucky....of course there are times when it does kick up an exacerbation. Its so uncertain and variable.

 

[Mommafirst]

My experience has been to keep sick people out of my house, but like you said at school there will be plenty of kids with snotty, running noses. Alyssa has done well, and mostly we've just focused on hand washing or using purell and keeping fingers out of mouths and eyes.

I know its a big changeover when they are suddenly going to be regularly exposed to all this crud, but despite the yuck that comes along with a CF kid getting a cold, out kids usually have normal immune systems. Alyssa can still avoid a cold that others get, even if its in the house. And, she has had colds that were just colds and didn't kick up anything yucky....of course there are times when it does kick up an exacerbation. Its so uncertain and variable.

 

[Mommafirst]

My experience has been to keep sick people out of my house, but like you said at school there will be plenty of kids with snotty, running noses. Alyssa has done well, and mostly we've just focused on hand washing or using purell and keeping fingers out of mouths and eyes.
<br />
<br />I know its a big changeover when they are suddenly going to be regularly exposed to all this crud, but despite the yuck that comes along with a CF kid getting a cold, out kids usually have normal immune systems. Alyssa can still avoid a cold that others get, even if its in the house. And, she has had colds that were just colds and didn't kick up anything yucky....of course there are times when it does kick up an exacerbation. Its so uncertain and variable.

 

[Ratatosk]

Oh and my issue with people coming to the house isn't necessarily that they have a cold -- it's the ones with pneumonia, bronchitis, flu... Who show up to family events claiming it's just a cold and it's something worse.

When DS was in kindergarten his teacher did bring up an issue in which parents were dosing their kids with tylenol and sending them to school sick. She asked if we minded if she sent a note home with the kids reminding parents of the school's sick policies and not to send them to school if they had a fever or were unwell. I think with H1N1 schools were much, much more cognizant of that issue and more willing to enforce the illness rules.

 

[Ratatosk]

Oh and my issue with people coming to the house isn't necessarily that they have a cold -- it's the ones with pneumonia, bronchitis, flu... Who show up to family events claiming it's just a cold and it's something worse.

When DS was in kindergarten his teacher did bring up an issue in which parents were dosing their kids with tylenol and sending them to school sick. She asked if we minded if she sent a note home with the kids reminding parents of the school's sick policies and not to send them to school if they had a fever or were unwell. I think with H1N1 schools were much, much more cognizant of that issue and more willing to enforce the illness rules.

 

[Ratatosk]

Oh and my issue with people coming to the house isn't necessarily that they have a cold -- it's the ones with pneumonia, bronchitis, flu... Who show up to family events claiming it's just a cold and it's something worse.
<br />
<br />When DS was in kindergarten his teacher did bring up an issue in which parents were dosing their kids with tylenol and sending them to school sick. She asked if we minded if she sent a note home with the kids reminding parents of the school's sick policies and not to send them to school if they had a fever or were unwell. I think with H1N1 schools were much, much more cognizant of that issue and more willing to enforce the illness rules.
<br />

 

[Printer]

When I was a child, I was the oldest of four with all of us in grammer school at the same time. What one didn't bring home the other did. I had EVERY childhood disease including scarlet fever. Sometimes I think we make too much of keeping out kids away from all germs.

Bill

 

[Printer]

When I was a child, I was the oldest of four with all of us in grammer school at the same time. What one didn't bring home the other did. I had EVERY childhood disease including scarlet fever. Sometimes I think we make too much of keeping out kids away from all germs.

Bill

 

[Printer]

When I was a child, I was the oldest of four with all of us in grammer school at the same time. What one didn't bring home the other did. I had EVERY childhood disease including scarlet fever. Sometimes I think we make too much of keeping out kids away from all germs.
<br />
<br />Bill

 

[pencf]

The CFF has a wonderful file/booklet, CF in the classroom.  When my daughter was in preschool and elementary school I used to highlight the points in the booklet that pertained to her CF.  Then I would write a letter to the teacher/(s) requesting they read the booklet, and either call me with questions, or speak to my daughter directly when she got old enough.  <br><br>As for Colds, I would always ask the teacher to move my daughter if one of her close classmates was coughing, or sneezing (with cold like symptoms) and as she got older, I encouraged her to ask the teacher to make the move.  I always asked any play dates or little friends with colds, to stay home and we could reschedule the play date when they were feeling better.<br><br>My daughter is 16 now, she often will not go for a sleep over at a friends if the friend has a cold, it just isn't worth it.  she just had a bad cold, and it took a lot out of her, and could have gone very bad if we weren't upping treatments/PT and doing Inhaled Antibiotics.<br><br>Good Luck!<br>

 

[pencf]

The CFF has a wonderful file/booklet, CF in the classroom. When my daughter was in preschool and elementary school I used to highlight the points in the booklet that pertained to her CF. Then I would write a letter to the teacher/(s) requesting they read the booklet, and either call me with questions, or speak to my daughter directly when she got old enough. <br><br>As for Colds, I would always ask the teacher to move my daughter if one of her close classmates was coughing, or sneezing (with cold like symptoms) and as she got older, I encouraged her to ask the teacher to make the move. I always asked any play dates or little friends with colds, to stay home and we could reschedule the play date when they were feeling better.<br><br>My daughter is 16 now, she often will not go for a sleep over at a friends if the friend has a cold, it just isn't worth it. she just had a bad cold, and it took a lot out of her, and could have gone very bad if we weren't upping treatments/PT and doing Inhaled Antibiotics.<br><br>Good Luck!<br>

 

[pencf]

The CFF has a wonderful file/booklet, CF in the classroom. When my daughter was in preschool and elementary school I used to highlight the points in the booklet that pertained to her CF. Then I would write a letter to the teacher/(s) requesting they read the booklet, and either call me with questions, or speak to my daughter directly when she got old enough. <br><br>As for Colds, I would always ask the teacher to move my daughter if one of her close classmates was coughing, or sneezing (with cold like symptoms) and as she got older, I encouraged her to ask the teacher to make the move. I always asked any play dates or little friends with colds, to stay home and we could reschedule the play date when they were feeling better.<br><br>My daughter is 16 now, she often will not go for a sleep over at a friends if the friend has a cold, it just isn't worth it. she just had a bad cold, and it took a lot out of her, and could have gone very bad if we weren't upping treatments/PT and doing Inhaled Antibiotics.<br><br>Good Luck!<br>

 

[kellyga]

My daughter is also 3.5 years old. We started her in a half day, two days a week school last year. She loved it!That made it a little easier for me to try and let go of my worries and let her out of her "bubble", if only a little.

We gave the teacher a simplified explanation of what CF is and that colds and coughs are a little harder on her body. We asked that she wash hands more often and use hand sanitizer. The teachers also made sure that if they noticed any kids with runny noses or coughs that my daughter sat away from them. She did pretty well last year. Only one real cold and one stomach virus (which was worse because of the not-eating-thing), but she did end up struggling with ear infections and eventually got tubes. She has been fine since.

This year, she is going 3 days a week, and I am not looking forward to the winter, but I know we will manage. She is so happy at school, and that is what I have to focus on.

 

[kellyga]

My daughter is also 3.5 years old. We started her in a half day, two days a week school last year. She loved it!That made it a little easier for me to try and let go of my worries and let her out of her "bubble", if only a little.

We gave the teacher a simplified explanation of what CF is and that colds and coughs are a little harder on her body. We asked that she wash hands more often and use hand sanitizer. The teachers also made sure that if they noticed any kids with runny noses or coughs that my daughter sat away from them. She did pretty well last year. Only one real cold and one stomach virus (which was worse because of the not-eating-thing), but she did end up struggling with ear infections and eventually got tubes. She has been fine since.

This year, she is going 3 days a week, and I am not looking forward to the winter, but I know we will manage. She is so happy at school, and that is what I have to focus on.