Sick Kids: Keep Them Home? Or Are They Faking?

Oct. 2, 2008— -- The morning begins, and you slowly pull yourself out of bed, getting ready for a day at the office, when you hear the familiar refrain, "Mommy, Daddy, I don't feel good."

And soon, you will have to evaluate, how sick is she? Is he really sick, or just trying to get out of school? And why don't schools teach them that the proper grammar is to say that they don't "feel well" anymore?

There may be no way to know if your child is really sick -- even after seeing a doctor -- but pediatricians have several suggestions to help you make the right call on taking your child in to the doctor, keeping them home or sending them in to school for the day.

One thing doctors stress is that parents tend to be the best judges of their children's health because they are most familiar with their usual patterns and how they are when they become ill.

"Parents usually know their children pretty well, and they can often tell if something is bothering their child or their teenager," said Dr. Tanya Remer Altmann, a pediatrician with the Community Pediatric Medical Group in Westlake, Calif., and author of "Mommy Calls," which deals with parents' questions about their infants and toddlers.

That understanding can become especially important when children aren't themselves, because sometimes, even in a genuinely sick child, a doctor won't be able to find the source of the pain.

"Sometimes children can have symptoms that we may not be able to find an organic cause for. It doesn't mean necessarily that children don't have pain or discomfort, it may mean there are other causes than infection or inflammatory processes causing the problem," said Dr. Gary Freed, director of the division of general pediatrics at the University of Michigan.

"Sometimes anxiety, depression, or other issues can create problems for children that may manifest themselves in a variety of ways. Parents and physicians need to be sensitive to all causes of pain and discomfort."

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Of course, there are some definite signs that a child should be kept home, which include fever (temperature above 100.4 Fahrenheit), vomiting, diarrhea, persistent pain or a bad, wet cough.