This is kind of a general but not-quite-pitworthy rant about one of my jobs (Tutoring coach). I work with kids, and kids get sick. I understand kids have a tendency to stick their hands where they should not, as well as forget to wash their hands. I would hope as they get older and more mature they grow out of this.
Right now I have both an eye infection and a cold which I am almost certain I contracted from kids at work. The eye infection I got was from a boy about 11 years of age who came into the center with red puffy eyes oozing pus :eek:. The first moment I got a look at him I asked him, “Are you feeling well enough to do your lessons today?” Hoping he would say “no” and take his eye-infected self out of range of my fragile eyeballs. He seemed to want to go, but his mother practically FORCED him to sit in a chair and get started on work. She assured me that he only had ‘allergies’ and that they were going to get something for them after his lessons. I’m not very familiar with eye-related allergic reactions, but oozing pus seems more the area of INFECTION than allergy. I suggested to him to try to avoid rubbing his eyes, as that would only make it worse, and to please not grab my face when he wanted my attention, I can see his raised hand just fine (yes he was GRABBING MY FACE with the hands he was using to rub his oozing eyes with).
So no surprise I get an eye infection. Then, a few days later, there is another kid similar age who got dragged against his will who’s practically coughing his lungs out. Thing is, he’s not covering his mouth. Just coughing at whatever his face is pointing towards. When I came up to tell him something, he turned his head and coughed directly into my face :eek: Now I have an annoying cought (not as bad as his but still annoying)
Is this normal behavior for kids this age?! Or am I naive to some cultural differences? (eye infection kid was Ihinese, coughing kid was Indian).
For kids, yes. For parents, NO. I’m a mother and when my child is sick I keep her home. She’ll heal faster and other people won’t be exposed if she’s contagious. The cough situation is iffy, he might have allergies, but if you tutor him regularly, you’d likely notice that. For the pus-ridden eye there is no excuse. The parent(s) should have kept the kid home or in a sick-child daycare center. Sorry you got sick.
Kids have to be taught the basic rules of hygeine, and it takes years of constant repetition for it to sink in. I used to work at a grade school, and kids would routinely pick their noses and grab my hand, or do other hideous things. They have to learn how gross it is.
Parents, however, should know better, and if they don’t, it’s OK for you to enforce it. Daycare centers and church nurseries, etc. usually have policies stating that you can’t leave a kid who is oozing, coughing, sneezing, whatever. I advise you to start a similar policy. Tell the kid he can’t work or concentrate properly in that condition anyway, and send him home.
The problem is, I repeatedly told the mother that her child appeared to be in great discomfort and he had a hard time seeing the computer screen (we tutor using a computer program BTW) and the mom kept INSISTING, “Oh he’ll be fine, he just has really bad allergies”.
I’ve been working at that center for nearly a year. The child in question has also been attending through that time. Not once did I ever previously see this child with ‘eye alliergies’ even when other kids were sneezing/breaking out in hives/etc on pollen-heavy days.
Personally I think that the mother was lying through her teeth just to force him to go. But I was/am in no position to call her a liar.
Ironically, the Directors at the center are always picking up colds not from the kids, but from their PARENTS, when having conferences with them in an enclosed room. And there are many parents as well who do not cover their mouth when they cough/sneeze.
Is there some cultural aspect of not covering one’s mouth when coughing/sneezing? Perhaps I am just being ignorant and not aware of the fact that people of Chinese/Indian descent find it rude to cover their mouths or something.
Not unless you consider it a cultural trait of white Americans as well. A shocking number of people wander around here without covering their mouth while sneezing and coughing, and few of them are anything but white. I’m not sure why two children not being politer than many adults would lead you to wonder if it was a race-based rudeness, though. You must live somewhere that the average person is more conscious of the risk of spreading germs than where I live if these kids seem odd to you…
I work with kids in a therapy setting, so like you, I am with them sans parents for a certain amount of time. I honestly think that some of the parents think of this as free babysitting, and that’s why they don’t cancel when the kids are sick. (FTR, I am thinking of white, American kids/parents here). I have had parents say to me just at the start of the appointment time, “Oh, we were all up last night with the stomach flu.” One time, a kid had just gotten a notice from his school that there was a head lice problem in his class—yet they didn’t think to warn me about it until AFTER the end of the hour.
Sorry—I hijacked. But kids don’t know any better until adults teach them. I agree with Genie here and advise you to have a stated policy for the parents to adhere to.
I’d think any mother would recognize pinkeye when she saw it. Good Lord, my mom would do ANYTHING to keep us away from people when we had that. And my brother managed to get it a few weeks ago, right at the end of a college semester, and got out of classes for a day or two until he got it treated. The professors didn’t want him around either!
This is a huge peeve of mine. There are parents at my son’s preschool who wouldn’t keep their kids home if they had ebola.
I can understand (to a point) if a parent cannot stay home with a sick child without losing their job, but come on. I have done it, you can do it too. My son has come home with kennel cough so many times, I can’t count them, which is hell on his baby brother, who catches everything too.
I have seen kids who look like they are ready for an ER visit in my son’s classroom. Last fall, the school had half the preschool class out with a gastro-intestinal bug. The first thing my pediatrician said was “Oh, some mom wouldn’t tell, huh?” Believe me, if I had found that bitch-or-bastard who sent their kid in with the dreaded “two exits no waiting” bug instead of keeping them home, I would have killed them.
I’m sorry if I sound mean, but if I have to make arrangements for my child in all circumstances, then so do you. And this is a Montessori school with a pretty high tuition, so these aren’t exactly welfare moms I’m talking about. There are four H2 Hummers in that parking lot, along with mostly other high-end-type cars.
We had the baby in the ER recently because of something that came home from preschool, and it scared me to death (and cost me a fortune).
We wouldn’t be complaining about the kids’ behavior if the parents had the common courtesy and good manners to take care of them themselves.
Very much to the points. You can tell the kid he is spreading disease if he doesn’t cover his cough–by coughing into his elbow, not his hand. And repeat it firmly as needed, until each has changed her habit.
Same for intrusive touching.
Same for washing hands.
And someone here may provide a thought-out policy to post, whereupon you don’t ask the parent if they think they might follow it, you courteously inform them that your high-class and clean establishment requires this policy.
Oozing kids may or may not be contagious, but if they stay home they definitely aren’t (an argument best left unstated)(certainly not in those words).
For a kid old enough to understand the basics, it shouldn’t actually take that much. Just word it right. “Cover your mouth whe you cough!” might not be enough – you have to give a good “why.”
When I was a little, wee toddler, as soon as I’d be put in the bathtub of warm water, I’d pee (even if it was just a little), It drove my mom nuts – she’d empty the tub and refill. She kept saying “do NOT pee in the tub!” but I couldn’t help it. Put little Crayons in a warm tub of water, and I’d wee. When my mom said “do NOT pee in the tub” sure I’d feel bad, that I had my warm water accident, but I really thought that I couldn’t help it.
One day, she put me in the tub and I tinkled. My mom looked at me and asked “do you want to wash you face in pee-pee?”
Problem soved! I learned to clench those muscles and never peed in the bathwater again!
If parents said “Wash your hands. Do you want your friends to know you’re wiping snot on them?” I betcha tons of kids would jump through hoops to ammend their hygene.