Family Focus: When To Keep Your Sick Child Home From School

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BOSTON (CBS)- It happens to every parent. Your child wakes up with a cough, a rash, or pink eye and now you're forced to figure out if you should send them to school or daycare, or keep them at home.

It's rarely convenient to keep your kids at home. Many parents work and don't have back-up childcare so deciding whether you need to pull your child from school is a hard one, but it's not always necessary.

Dr. Mallika Marshall shared some general guidelines to help you decide:

Stay Home

Fever over 101 degrees
Strep throat
Diarrhea
Recurrent vomiting
Mouth sores
Weeping skin sores

But there are some common illnesses where it is probably OK to send them school.

Go To School

Common cold
Runny nose
Cough
Pink eye (Viral)
Simple rash

Head lice require their own procedure. There isn't a requirement that they are taken out of school that day but they will need a first treatment that night before they go back to school the next day.

If you have any questions, it's always a good idea to call your pediatrician.