Sick Day (Epic 80's Anthem): The Singing Pediatrician
Lyrics:
Dimetapp, turn on Atari, Ginger Ale, a game of Sorry,
Chicken Soup, flat Coke, plug in Lite Brite
Settle down with Dr. Seuss, before YouTube and “Lose the Juice,”
grab TV Guide to find the Price is Right
Just relax for a sick day
When you’re feeling too ill to learn
But when you can participate
You are ready to return
Pepto-Bismol, sooth a cough, with Robitussin and Hasselhoff,
Play Mouse Trap, bathe in Quaker Oats
Sniff some Vicks or, check your temp, with mercury for, two minutes,
Search the Trapper Keeper for dittos
Theme #1: Iconic childhood memories of “sick days”
Thanks to all of you who sent suggestions – I included almost all of them (except Perry Mason – sorry Jessica!). For some more iconic 80’s memories, check out Rhett and Link’s awesome music video that at least partially inspired this one and Napoleon Dynamite, who inspired the ridiculous dance.
Very important: I am not endorsing over the counter cold medications such as Dimetapp and Robitussin (or TV shows, movies or music videos involving David Hasselhoff). I am merely recalling memorable elements of sick days when I was a kid – who could forget the burning/soothing taste of cherry cough syrup or the sweet wintergreen flavor of Pepto-Bismol? Of course, if you read this pediatric blog and others, you will find that times have changed (and they will continue to change!). Now, it seems clear that over-the-counter cold medications are more likely to harm your child with side effects than actually help them with symptoms. So I don’t recommend them – but more on that in my cold virus blog post – coming soon!
Are you “that mom?”
“Ugh, I can’t believe SingingDrJosh brought his kids to school again looking like gremlins – you know, with green snot, red eyes, a monster voice and a rash. Doesn’t he care about getting all of our kids sick? Wait, what kind of a doctor is he anyway? Like Dr. Phil? Hmm. . . I don’t know. . .let’s talk about him behind his back!”
Off to school or back to bed: when should your kid take a “sick day”?
So, which group do you fall into: “that mom,” “hypochondriac parent” or somewhere in between? How do you decide whether your child is too sick for school? Are lice a national emergency that requires parent pickup “stat”? Are all fevers created equal? How much poop is really “diarrhea?” What about pink eye – can you really get it from just looking at someone?
This is a big deal – every year millions of school days are lost and $120 billion is spent on sick days, not to mention the average kid missing several days of kickball, show and tell and pizza parties! Younger kids may miss even more days, as they are going to have up to 12 viral illnesses per year – most of them probably in the next few months!
Good news – it doesn’t have to be so subjective. There are actually national American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) / American Public Health Association (APHA) guidelines that suggest which kids that should be excluded from childcare centers and schools. They can provide you, the informed parent, with objective data to make a determination on whether you send your kid to school. These guidelines are based on peer-reviewed research and expert opinions that determine the likelihood of your child harming himself or herself or other children due to their illness – and make recommendations to minimize these risks.
Here are some interesting examples of the data that people have gathered over MANY years about transmission of illnesses in child care settings (as you will see, I had to dig pretty deep):
1) In this 1990 study of 118 children that went to a day care full of sick kids, they didn’t seem to get any more sick than other kids that stayed at home.
2) A study from 1949 (as you can see, “that mom” has been around for a while!) suggests that more restrictive exclusion policies for sickness in day cares doesn’t seem to make a significant effect on spread of illness, but results in more sick days at home, missed work days and kids eventually leaving the more restrictive day cares. Good luck finding the actual text of that old study – I was able to assess its findings only when quoted here.
3) This fun study from a childcare center at my alma mater (UNC-Chapel Hill) showed that in one day care, 10% of the healthy kids were culture positive for respiratory pathogens. The point is, you can’t avoid the viruses – even if you avoid the sick kids!
Thus, the AAP/APHA Caring For Our Children guidelines suggest that exclusion does little to stem the spread of respiratory illnesses. As a result, they are pretty liberal with respiratory illnesses in childcare settings. On the other hand, when it comes to GI illnesses, they are more conservative.