Hellobee Boards

If I thought it was HFM, I'd definitely keep the other kid home. With a cold or maybe even a stomach bug, I'd probably let symptom-free kiddos go. But HFM is so, so contagious. And miserable.

@crazydoglady: My LOs (6 months and 3 years old at the time) got HFM from a friend whose child never got more than one tiny sore (she actually asked me if I thought it was a cold sore and we both looked at it, and I never would have guessed HFM.) I don't blame her at all, but I'm still slightly bitter. It was so, so terrible.

I actually refused to visit my MILs once because my SIL’s kids had HFM and my MIL babysits 2x a week. We canceled dinner and rescheduled for like two weeks later. We do see them once a month so it wasn’t a major deal, but my ILs weren’t even sick. So they thought it was kind of weird.

I have 3 kids and I swear one or the other is always sick, I would send a healthy one if one of the other 2 were sick - only because if I didn’t we would never go to any parties

@Corduroy: for a cold I would send, for hfm I would keep home. Not sure on the stomach bug. Sometimes it's hard to tell with certain kids if it's a bug or something just not agreeing, etc.

I don't think so, I think it's probably the more considerate/safe choice, BUT I wouldn't come to expect that as a host or fellow guest. I'd probably swing back and forth from both positions as circumstances change.