You get a call halfway through your day that your child is ill and needs to be picked up from school. How long should they stay home before returning to the classroom? Consider these guidelines on when to keep a child home:

  • If your child is running a fever, they should be kept home from school. A good rule of thumb is that a child should not return to school until they are fever-free for at least 24 hours without medication.
  • If your child seems too sluggish and lethargic to pay attention in school, odds are they probably aren’t able to learn much in class and should be kept home.
  • If your child is experiencing a loud cough, frequent trips to the restroom, or any other symptoms that may be disruptive to both your child’s learning and their classmates, they should be kept home until symptoms subside.
  • If your child is contagious with an illness such as pink eye, they should be kept home until a doctor approves returning to school.

In addition, review the following recommendations on when to take your child to an urgent care facility versus the hospital.

Your child should see a physician at an urgent care facility if they have:

  • A possible bone fracture
  • A persistent cough
  • Cuts or scrapes that may need medical attention
  • Ear or sinus pain
  • A fever, cold, or the flu
  • Frequent or painful urination
  • Mild to moderate asthma attacks
  • Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
  • A rash
  • A sore throat
  • A sprain or strain

If your child has a more serious or life-threatening condition, they should be taken to the emergency room immediately. Reasons may include:

  • Coughing up blood
  • Heart attack
  • Sudden or unexplained loss of consciousness
  • Wound that will not stop bleeding
  • Major injury
  • Stroke
  • Chest pain; numbness in the face, arm, or leg; or difficulty speaking
  • High fever with a stiff neck, mental confusion, or difficulty breathing
  • Severe shortness of breath

If your child is not feeling well, you can bring them to be evaluated at any Patient First center from 8 a.m. to 8p.m., 365 days a year – no appointment necessary. To find a center near you, please visit our locations page.

Related Articles

We would love to learn what would be helpful on this page for you.

Articles by tag

2020 2021-top-workplace 4th-of-July 5-star-physician ACLS AED air-purification allentown Allergies Announcement Antibiotics anxiety Aspen Hill coming soon Asthma award awards back-to-school baltimore baltimore-child baltimore's-child baltimore-sun beach bedside-manner bel-air Best of Best urgent care Best urgent care VA beach best-for-families Bestof best-of best-of-2019 Best-of-2020 best-of-award best-of-awards bestofcountytimes Best-of-Jewish-times-winner best-urgent-care Best-urgent-Care-Bowie-Blade-News best-workplace bethlehem Biking Black-Friday blog Blood-Donation BLS Blueberries Camping capital-gazette careers CDC Cholesterol Circadian-Rhythm Cold cold-prevention colon-cancer concussion coronavirus covid-19 COVID-19-Test CPR cramp-prevention Dehydration dental-health Depression Dermatitis Diabetes Drowning Drug Screening Dry-Skin eastern-pa easton Eating-Disorder employees employment Ergonomics E-Scooter exercise eye-health face-mask Fall fall-sports Farmer's-Market First-Aid Fitness Flu Flu-season flu-shots food-storage food-swaps football For Men For Parents For Women for-moms for-parents fredericksburg Gastrointestinal General Generation-X-Health Gift-Ideas Goals Halloween hand-foot-and-mouth Hand-Washing Hanukkah harrisburg headache Head-Lice Health Healthcare health-history health-symptoms Healthy Living healthy-eating healthy-living healthy-swaps Heart heart-disease Heart-Health Heat heat-exhaustion heat-safety hiking Holiday holidays horizonBCBS horizon-blue-shield Humidifier hydration Illness Inclusivity Inclusivity & Accessibility inclusivity-&-accessability injury-prevention Insect-Stings insurance jetlag jobs Kidney Kwanzaa Laughter lehigh-valley life-support-class Lightning maryland Mask meal-prep mechanicsburg medical-records melanoma memory-retention Men's-Health mental-health Migrane millennial Millennials montco montco-pa montgomery-county montgomery-county-pa Mood Improvement Movember MRSA new jersey new-center new-jersey new-year New-Year's northern-va northern-virginia nova Nutrition Occupational Health ocean-safety osteoporosis outdoors Paddle-Sports PALS parenting parenting-tips parent-tips patient-first pennsylvania pets philadelphia philly physicals poison-ivy poison-prevention Power-Outage Pregnancy probiotics Productivity Protein recipe recipes registration resolutions richmond River running Safety Safety Tips safety-tips Seasonal-Affective-Disorder shin-splings Sickness-Prevention simply-the-best skin sleep Smoke-Detector Smoking Snow soccer sore-throat south-jersey Sports Sports-Physicals spotsylvania Spring spring-cleaning St.-Patrick's-Day stafford Stitches strep Strep-Throat stress stress-managment Stroke Summer summer-sports Sunburn Sunglasses Sun-Safety sunscreen Swimmer's-Ear swimming TBI Teal-Pumpkin Teething Thyroid tick tips-for-parents top-physicians top-workplace traveling-tips travel-tips Travel-Vaccines urgent-care Urinary-health vacation vaccinations vaccines Valentine's-Day Valentines-Day Video Vitamin-D volunteering Walking washington-dc washington-post washington-post-2019 Water-Sports Weight-Lifting Wellness Winter Workouts Yard-Work Yearly-Physical