Children’s colds, coughs and sickness leave working mothers fearing for their job

A cold, cough, tummy ache, sickness bug and diarrhoea are the top five child illnesses making mothers sick with fear.

Though children can generally get away with being at school for minor coughs and colds, sickness and diarrhoea are automatic 48 hour exclusions, leaving 27 per cent of mothers worried about losing their job to care for their child.

Out of a study of 2000 mothers polled by Haliborange, one in ten have received a written warning about taking time off work to care for a sick child.

On average, a typical child was found to be ill three times each year, requiring two and a half days off of school for each bout.

This forces mums to take an extra 7.5 days off every year.

A four in ten mums admit to sending their child into school ill due to pressure from their employer.

Money pressures were also a concern, with 34 per cent of mothers losing wages for every day they took off of work.

Susanne Wright from Haliborange said: ‘’It is only natural that children will fall ill but it seems the responsibility largely falls on Mum to take the time off work to care for them. Taking extra days off in term time can be a real struggle especially in the current economic climate when people may be worried about their job security. The back to school season is often the time of year when children are more likely to come down with something, so taking steps to help maintain your child’s immune system may help prevent unnecessary time off from work or school for all the family.”

The bottom four child health reasons parents needed time off of work are for chest infections, ear infections, asthma or allergy, flu and chicken pox.