Emet teachers?

[LouiseR]

I'm in my second year of uni atm so really need to start considering what I want to do with my life and I've always thought about being a primary school teacher. I've done work exp in a primary school, volunteered at a summer camp for autistic kids, worked as a maths and english tutor and have just applied for a job over the summer at a kids camp, so it's deffo something i'm interested in.

And so far i've been fine as far as emet is concerned...Most of those things have been in the summer months so it's been on my mind less but i'm worried being a primary school teacher in the winter is gonna freak me out cause i was always terrified being a student at school during winter and i'd take days off when it went round my school. But you can't really do that as a teacher! And especially with little kids things go round a lot quicker and they might not make it to the bathroom and just vomit on the floor and I don't know what i'd do (this happened once when I was working at the tutor centre and it was terrifying).

It's been on my mind a lot recently because I went to my interview for the summer camp last weekend and the interviewer was talking about sick days and said they won't let you time off for colds and silly things like that but if you've got a sick bug or something more serious then the procedure is to ring up beforehand bla bla bla and then she said '...and unfortunately this can be quite common working with children'


So I was just wondering if anyone has this job how have they coped?

[happyteacher]

I've been an elementary teacher for 10 years now. I teach 12-13 year olds, but there are just as many germs around. I have never caught a sv* from my students, only other yucky things - strep throat, bronchitis, influenza, colds - nasty! I only have caught sv* from my son!

I have never had a student v* in my classroom, but have several times now on school trips. I have been lucky owrking with the people I do (this is my 3rd school in 10 years) and have had at least 1 staff member that I have been able to share my fear with. I know I could just leave the room and get them and they would deal with it.

Don't let emet stop you from being a teacher. I LOVE my job! Every day is something different!

[Rebecca85]

I am a teaching assistant, and I find I cope Ok at work. My kids are aged 4-7, and yes they sometimes do get sick in the classroom. But it isn't my job to clean it up, I will make some excuse like fetching a bucket or getting the caretaker and get out of there! I also find that I am a lot calmer when things like that happen at work than if it was say my neice, I guess professionalism takes over and I have a private freak out later.

[LouiseR]

Thanks for the replies, it's reassuring to hear other people have coped fine with it

[hairyfairy]

I could never work with small children, & this is one of the main reasons, the other is that I can`t relate well to anyone under 20!

[anxiousinmi]

I teach preschool and am lucky enough to have an aide who will step in and help the sick child while I teach the others, however, I do find that I am like Rebecca85, I handle it and later freak out. I am sure you will be able to get through it. I have been at my job 6 years and it tends to happen about once a year, but I have never caught anything after an instance.

[Elski]

My sis is a primary school teacher - she loves it and she never catches anything from any of them and noone has ever puked in her class either.

All I can say is don't let emet stop you chasing your dreams! I was put off doing my job because it involves a lot of vomiting but I just had to bite the bullet and do it as I refuse to let emet come before my love for my profession. I regularly encounter vomit at work and at first it freaked me out but I'm now almost ok with it