OT,OT: gotta vent!

Same reason I "temped" for 20 years - I could have time off when I needed it - sick kids, school holidays, holidays which tied up with DH`s availabilities. Having said that, my longest "temp." job was with BT for SEVENTEEN YEARS - with the same conditions. They tried to make me a permanent fixture, but I didn`t want to give up my flexibility!

I still miss it - they were lovely people to work with.

Pat P

Colds are not necessarily minor. They can lead to secondary infections that can be quite serious. Some children (and adults) are more susceptible than others.

While I totally agree that it is senseless to try to keep your child locked up in a closet to avoid getting sick, it is also senseless to not be as careful *as possible* in spreading germs. I grew up in an era where people pretty much quanrantined themselves when they had a cold. They informed neighbors and friends so as not to spread it around. Granted, this often doesn't work well during colds and flu season, but it helps.

What I think is truly against our better long-term interest is using all these products that are supposed to keep us germ free. Marketers are scaring the life out of homemakers. I detest the one showing a chicken leg being used to wipe counters. How ridiculous. That kind of germ phobia does us no good. A recent study proved that a simple hand wash was all it took - and regular soap, not anti-bacterial soap, which didn't fare well on tests and proved worse than regular soap.

As a piano teacher, I resent when children come to their lessons quite ill, sometimes just hours from a doctor diagnosing them with strep infections. They can't learn when they're that sick! And I don't want their serious infections!

I strongly empathize with those for whom a day off means a lost job. Been there. Just wanted to point up another POV. :-)

Dianne

At the age of four my son spent seven days in the hospital because of a virus he picked up at preschool. He lost eight pounds. He couldn't keep _anything_ down for a week. I watched him screaming in fear and pain at blood draws and IV starts. I watched him struggling to stand for X-rays because he was so weak. I listened to him beg me for tacos and pizza when he couldn't even keep a sip of water in his stomach. He came out of the hospital looking like a refugee from Ethiopia. All because someone sent their kid to school when they should have been home. I understand that there are very difficult situations that many people have. But that does not excuse what happened to my son and will happen to others when sick children are sent to school.

Karen E.

as a lupus patient, I know this very well.

Amen! Not to mention the guy who wrote the book to further the fear.

one of the first things I was taught when I began working in a research lab is that alcohol wipes actually do not protect patients/donors from infection when drawing blood because of the alcohol, but because of the rubbing/wiping action with a damp clean cloth. The chemicals/actions that really control such things are not something you want to put on your skin on a regular basis: bleach, UV light. But as long as people don't know this, they'll continue to carry their little bottles of alcohol gel. I suppose if one just wants to get the honey bun glaze off their fingers before putting their hands on teh steering wheel, then it makes sense. but to "fight" germs this way... well, it's largely pointless. probably all that gel did was spread around the germs you picked up from the store door handle. It didn't kill anything.

OTOH, i really do get peeved when i see someone in a public restroom who doesn't do at least a cursory handwash after they use the toilet. That's just gross. :)

IMO, that's an entirely different situation. A piano lesson is not a "requirement" by law while a certain number of days of school attendance are (at least in my state.) That is irresponsible on the part of parents to say the least and if you could know ahead of time, I'd flat out send them back out the door.

Not to mention the fact that they are producing kids with no resistance to infection. If you come up against a few germs and bacteria here and there, you build up some degree of immunity! It`s gradually dawning on people that there IS such a thing as being TOO clean!

Pat P

I'm very sorry your little one went through that. I certainly don't mean to imply there are not serious and threatening situations. As I said to Dianne, I have lupus and am at risk of infection from others also. In fact, recently had a discussion on our pen group that people tend to be afraid of us (those of us with autoimmune disease) when the truth is, we are far more at risk of catching something from *them*. That's why I use my own pen to sign receipts. The risk is very small as most viruses do not survive exposure to air for very long at all. But it's still a risk to me. So I understand that. I just think that there is no generalization here and that we have too look at all sides of the issue and not condemn a parent if we don't know the situation.

I was fussed at for coming to work sick once. well, I will say I walked into work that day feeling completely normal and with no indication that I was ill. it was half the day through when i lost my voice and my head started swimming. Maybe I was tired that morning - but heck, I had lupus, I was tired every morning. Likewise, I was fussed at once for sending a sick child to school when I had no knowledge she was sick. There are just too many circumstances in which a parent may not be aware of a problem or may not have any recourse for me to say "all children who are ill must be kept at home." If the parent knew their child was very sick and had an alternative to exposing other children to the illness, then I agree wholeheartedly that there was no excuse.

You were fortunate - that was not my experience with temp work. My experience was "we can get someone else any time" and therefore I worked 60 hours a week when called for, even if i was sick. heh... i had some bossman give me a Saturday lecture about how as a subcontractor it was my job to be on call at all times because if he was willing to spend his weekends away from his family, I had to be - until he saw that I was flushed and near cross-eyed from 102 fever then he wanted to send me home.... "Well, as soon as you finish all your work, go home." huh???

Love those IBM years.

I agree, and the same goes for sick adults -- they belong at home.

At one job, the whole staff was sick all winter every winter because the corporate culture was that the only acceptable excuse for missing work was that you'd died. Every bug in town was brought to the office, which was bad enough for the healthy people, not to mention those of us with compromised immune systems.

The next office I worked in, every fall they had a visiting nurse come in and give flu shots (and peer pressure was used to make sure everyone got one). Anyone who showed up sick was asked "do you think red nose and bleary eyes makes a good impression on the clients?" and subtly pressured to take his/her germs back home.

Once upon a time, I worked somewhere that another co-worker was immune-compromised; the flu definitely would have landed her in the hospital and possibly killed her. Every fall, the Big Guy gave us a lecture that anyone who brought flu germs into the office would get dinged for all the sick days used by any member of the staff as a result. There was some question about whether he could legally do that, but the point was made, and we stayed home when we were sick.

I want to add/clarify.

I'm not talking about sending a feverish, weak, or vomiting child to be cared for by strangers. I never knowingly put my child in that position and never would have. For those times (which thankfully were few) I was fortunate to have alternatives or I took the risk of facing the wrath of my employer, and yes, losing my job.

I'm talkin' sniffles or the like - which in our part of the world could easily be allergies as we have a year-long allergy season here. But IMO, it would be irresponsible and uncaring to put *my* child at risk by putting her in the hands of someone who, though surely trained to deal with such circumstances, was *not* mommy or gramma.

But again, I can understand people who don't have or are scared of making that choice based on their economic conditions.

part of my vent was directed at a mother who is working as a real estate agent. as far as I'm concerned, she could have - and should have - made arrangements to meet the client at a time when her child had someone to take care of him. As a result of this sick child being in yesterday, another child - deaf and autistic and unable to communicate - went home sick to his grandmother, because mom had to work; that child stayed home today because he was sick. Yes his mother had to work - but he was left with someone who is able to take care of him. If you were the teacher or aide who had to change diapers and clothing full of vomit and diarrhea because a parent didn't make arrangements to keep an obviously sick child at home, you would be furious! If your child came home sick because some parent couldn't/wouldn't make arrangements to take care of their sick child who was sent into school, you would be livid!!!! I worked for several years as a substitute teacher and as a time pay paraprofessional (time pay means that you get paid for the time you worked; no work = no pay!). I HAD NO SICK TIME in either position; if I didn't work I didn't get paid. If DD was sick, I didn't go into work. And yes I have people who could have taken care of her. But my sick DD is MY responsiblity - no one else's!!! When I worked time pay, DH was out of work - and it was important for me to work to help pay the bills that unemployment didn't cover. DH took care of a sick DD when I went to work. When I got into a contracted position, I used my sick days to take care of DD when she was sick....I most certainly didn't send her into school because I had to work. Raising children is the most important job we will ever do. Lisa

No, there is no proof. I state again: a temporal relationship does not imply cause and effect.

Sara

No, they have researched the link between thimerosol (that's the preservative that is a mercury derivative) and autism specifically. Care to check out the studies?

are a few poorly done studies by a couple folks who havean axe to grind, but those do not a scientific consensus make.There is *much* better research into the etiology of autismout there, though they still do not have any definitive answers. Best wishes, Ericka

Oops, also meant to say that the timing you suggest is completely off. Thimerosol was introduced as a preservative in the *1930s*, and for the last several years *NONE* of the routinely scheduled pediatric vaccines have contained any thimerosol. Nevertheless, there has not been the drop in the incidence of autism and autism spectrum disorders that one would have expected. It might be a bit early to tell still in the US, but some other coutries got rid of the thimerosol earlier and they have also not seen a decrease in the diagnosis of ASDs. In fact, some have seen an increase. Nor has there been the significant difference in incidence between countries that have had different levels of thimerosol exposure.

Best wishes, Ericka

Karen E had some very interesting things to say about Re: OT,OT: gotta vent!:

So you'd have rather seen another kid (and possible siblings) homeless because a parent lost a job for staying home with the kid because

*there was no one else*???

Karen C - California had some very interesting things to say about Re: OT,OT: gotta vent!:

And how many got evicted because they couldn't pay the rent because they didn't get the hours to get the pay? How many got utilities cut off or went hungry?

in my area of CT, there are food banks, utilities that help with bills and other forms of support. Or perhaps you would rather have some one die from the flu or pneumonia because it was easier to send a sick child to school than have the mother keep that child home.