Simply put, children become sick after being exposed to other sick children. Some guidelines to follow are:

• When your child has a temperature higher than 100 degrees, keep him/her at home. A fever is a sign of potentially contagious infection, even if the child feels fine. Schools often advise keeping the child at home until a fever-free period has existed for 24 hours.
• When other children in the day care facility have a known contagious infection, such as chicken pox, strep throat or conjunctivitis, keep your child at home.
• Children taking antibiotics should be kept at home until they have taken the medicine for one or two days.

If your child is vomiting or has diarrhea, the young patient should not be around other children. Other signs of illness are:

• inability to take fluids
• weakness or lethargy
• sunken eyes
• a depressed soft spot on top of infant’s head
• crying without tears
• dry mouth