Why Do Children Get Sick So Often When They Start Preschool?
Hello everyone!
If it feels like your child has had one cold after another since starting preschool, you're certainly not imagining it. For many families, the first year in a group childcare setting comes with a steady stream of runny noses, coughs, and the occasional fever.
As preschool educators, we understand how frustrating this can be. Missed work, sleepless nights, and caring for a sick child can take a toll on the whole family. One of the most common questions we hear is, "Is someone sending their sick child to school?"
While that can occasionally happen anywhere, it's rarely the reason illnesses spread through a preschool. In fact, our illness policy is designed to minimize that risk. Children who develop a fever while at school are sent home, and before returning, they must be cleared by their healthcare provider with a doctor's note. This policy helps protect not only your child but every child and staff member in our school community.
The reality of socializing is that illness is often a normal part of entering group childcare.
Young children spend their first few years of life in relatively small social circles, usually interacting with family members and a limited number of caregivers. Preschool changes that almost overnight. Suddenly, children are sharing toys, tables, books, art supplies, playground equipment, and spending hours each day with classmates who come from many different households.
It is totally normal that every family who joins a social setting brings with them the common viruses circulating in their own home and community. Even with excellent cleaning practices, frequent handwashing, and careful illness policies, many of these viruses spread before a child even shows symptoms. In fact, children are often contagious a day or two before they appear sick, which means illnesses can be shared before anyone knows a child is coming down with something.
Because of this, getting sick during the first year of preschool is not a sign that a school is unclean or that parents are being careless. It's often a reflection of children encountering many common viruses for the first time.
Some parents wonder whether keeping their child home until kindergarten will help them avoid these illnesses altogether. While delaying group childcare may reduce exposure during the preschool years, research suggests that many children simply experience this period of increased illness later, once they begin elementary school. In other words, the timing may change, but exposure to common childhood viruses is a normal part of growing up!
Interestingly, several long-term studies have found that children who attend childcare early in life often experience more respiratory infections during their preschool years but fewer illnesses once they reach elementary school compared with children who had little early group childcare exposure. Researchers believe this is because these children encounter many common viruses earlier, allowing them to develop immunity to those specific infections over time. This doesn't mean preschool "boosts" the immune system or prevents future illness altogether. Children will always catch colds and other viruses. However, early exposure may shift when those common illnesses occur.
Of course, that doesn't mean every illness should be accepted as unavoidable. Families and schools play an important role in reducing the spread of infection by practicing good hand hygiene, keeping vaccinations and/or physicals up to date, teaching children to cover coughs and sneezes, cleaning frequently touched surfaces, and following illness exclusion policies when children are genuinely unwell.
Our fever policy is one example of that commitment. If a child develops a fever at school, we require a doctor's note before they return. While we know this can sometimes be inconvenient for families, the policy exists for an important reason. A fever can be the first sign of a contagious illness, and ensuring children have been evaluated before returning helps protect both the recovering child and everyone else in our classrooms.
If you're feeling discouraged because your child seems to catch every bug that comes through the classroom, you're not alone. The first year of preschool is often the hardest for illness. Fortunately, for most children, the frequency of illnesses decreases over time as they build immunity to many of the common viruses they encounter.
At The Melbourne Preschool, your child's health and safety remain one of our highest priorities. We take illness prevention seriously, enforce our health policies consistently, and work closely with families to create the healthiest learning environment possible. While we can't eliminate every cold, we can work together to help keep our classrooms as healthy, safe, and welcoming as possible!
Toodleoo!
Academic References:
Ball, T. M., Holberg, C. J., Aldous, M. B., Martinez, F. D., & Wright, A. L. (2002). Influence of attendance at day care on the common cold from birth through 13 years of age. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 156(2), 121-126.
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2023). Managing infectious diseases in child care and schools: A quick reference guide (5th ed.).
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2015). Transforming the workforce for children birth through age 8: A unifying foundation. National Academies Press.