My advice isn't about balancing your sick kids with dcks nor is it about when to close if your kids are sick......I need help on deciding if your kids are REALLY sick or if they have the Monday morning disease. I've been fooled many-a-time especially by my 7 year old son who always fesses us the next day. SOOO, of course I am very skeptical. I made a new rule about only staying home if they're puking, having diahrea or if they have a fever,....but this morning they were both moping around, putting on a really good act and my 5 year old daughter out and out refused to get dressed! They ended up staying home with VERY strict rules about staying upstairs...they're not allowed on the same level of the house as daycare, no video games, no hyper playing, 2 hour naps with daycare. I even gave them their lunch boxes and told them to have their snacks upstairs. And they've been warned that my neighbour is home today, so as soon as they act well, I can drive them to school. When my babies are sick, I just want to hug them and hold them and love them....I'm not a cold person, but how do you know when it's real and when you're being played?