Useful tips for handling sick days

You just know when your child isn't feeling well, but how can you know when coughs and sniffles mean it's time to keep your child home from school? Or when to call the doctor? Since school-aged children get up to 10 colds a year, it can be a puzzle for many parents.

That's why the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) and Triaminic® have partnered to create "Sick Day Guidelines: Making the Right Call When Your Child Has a Cold." Some 22 million school days are missed each year in the U.S. due to colds, which are also the leading cause of doctor visits and missed school and work days.

Read on for useful information to help you make the right call on your child's next sick day.

Should I keep my child at home or send them to school?

Consider keeping your child home if he or she:

Has a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher
Has been vomiting
Has symptoms that prevent him or her from participating in school, such as:

A Parents Role in Education From A Teachers Perspective

Seventy-nine percent of parents demonstrate they they want to learn more about how to be more involved in their childrens education. Seventy-seven percent of parents also think their children's teachers could learn more about involving parents in their children's learning.

Partner the above statistic with studies showing a correlation between parent participation in the classroom and successful students, and the complex problems of the nation's school system would seem to be solved.
However the obvious is not always that simple.

"Parents want to help but are often afraid to do anything," says Jane Anderson, a New York Public School teacher and parent of two school age children.

Creating Winners

At our end of year prize giving we celebrate the boys’ achievements. Our leavers (Year 8s) are individually acknowledged. On these occasions, I am particularly conscious of personal best performances. In schools and in life in general, our top achievers are often in the spot light. Recognising this is important as we want people to excel in their area of passion.

However, society’s aim must be to keep all children in schools achieving their personal best and this is the challenge. To do this teachers and parents have to ensure that they connect with the individual on a regular and real level where there is integrity in the relationship. Individual goal setting is crucial in this process. It may be an academic, social, cultural or sporting goal(s). Follow up guidance, structure and encouragement exponentially enhances the likelihood of success. Children need to have moments when they are made to feel special and their efforts are celebrated.

10 Things I wish my parents had taught me… better.

Enough time has passed in my life where I can look back and (mostly) understand the things my parents had taught me, or at least tried to teach me, or maybe forgot to teach me as I was growing up. I wish now that I had paid attention and listened to the importance of knowing these things and how they will ultimately shape the person that I have become, or have yet to become. I plan and hope that I will be able to teach these things to my son, so he truly understands the importance of each lesson as he begins his life.

Children and TV

Did it really take a study to prove that TV is bad for young children? Apparently so.

Researchers at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Centre in Seattle found that for each hour of TV a child watches, there is a 10% increase in the risk of attention deficit disorder (ADD). Read the complete research findings here.

Wonder why? Possibly because children become accustomed to a level of stimulation watching TV that is much higher than they would experience in life. Combine this with the flashing images common in children's programming, and you've set children up to be ill-suited to deal with school, homework, concentration, reading, and real life in general. Three recent studies show that as TV viewing increases, academic performance decreases (Diller, Amen, and Armstrong).