My adult daughter is unfortunately sick with a rather sloppy cold she's had for a couple of days now. She has a little bit of concern for her autoimmune system because she has no fever, not even a small elevation, and she wonders if that means she's not fighting off the infection.

I empathized with her that it's frustrating to be sick and not have a fever. In my day, that meant you couldn't "prove" you were sick, although it's obvious to me from a single glance at my daughter that she doesn't feel well. This led to a discussion on how things were done during my childhood days, 1960's and 1970's. If you weren't burning up, they assumed you weren't sick. You must be trying to get attention, or to weasel out of school or chores. I remember in seventh grade, a classmate was telling me how she'd been puking her guts up, but the school nurse wouldn't call her parents and send her home, because she wasn't running a fever. That was consistent with my experience too. Whether it was the school nurse or my own mother, the attitude seemed to be, no fever means you're fine, so get your butt up and go to class.

Which then brought to mind that when I was in sixth grade, I broke my collarbone on the playground during recess. Since it was "so late in the day," they decided not to bother calling my mother, and sent me home as usual on the school bus! Do you think THAT decision would be made nowadays?

What noticeable ways has public policy and societal mindset changed since your childhood?