Now that the flu is widespread in Maine, some schools are seeing high absentee rates. But what really worries me are the children who aren’t staying home because their parents don’t have paid sick days.

Family budgets are stretched so thin that just having to take one day — or even a half-day — away from work without pay to recover from the flu or to care for a sick child, can lead to financial disaster. What’s even worse is that some workers without paid sick days risk losing their jobs whenever they need to take time off. The result is that sick children come to school.

As a teacher, I see sick children coming to school simply because their parents can’t take time off. I’ve talked to sick children playing down their illness — and sending themselves to school — because they know staying home would put a parent’s income at risk.

It’s our job as a society to protect all members. A minimum standard of paid sick days would help protect children and help keep us all safer.

Rachel Buck, Peru