While education is important, health and safety are always my first concern. One of my children was a fragile asthmatic (she is now in her 20's) and it used to frustrate me that people would send their child to school with a cough or runny nose, and my child would catch it and go to the hospital. If the other child had stayed home for just 2 days, my child would have had an additional 7 to 10 days of education, along with missing the anxiety of another hospital visit, oxygen deprivation, headache, . . ..