Thread: Sick Kids
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Unregistered 06:24 PM 07-08-2011
I hate it when I hear "Oh, dck's just teething..." and then all of a sudden, more kids are "teething" and before long, so am I! Same goes for "allergies". I didn't realize that kids could pass "allergies" to one another.

I'm a home daycare provider and I rarely have to send kids home sick. I owe it all to having an illness policy that doesn't leave room for interpretation. I owe it to every child in my care to enforce the illness policy that's in my contract which all of the parents sign. Doctors have different opinions about what teething and allergy related symptoms are. It's not fun to exclude kids from care when their parents are chalking their symptoms up to something that is not contagious. I understand that it's hard to leave work to pick up a sick child from daycare. I know that employers get angry over things like that. That's one of the big reasons why I expect parents to have a back up provider available to them.

I'm not arguing that providers aren't capable of sending a kid home who is questionable as far as fevers go. I just think that the door swings in both directions. If a child arrives at daycare and doesn't have a temperature and then spikes one about 3 or 4 hours later, then I'm inclined to think that the parents gave the child a dose of tylenol or motrin right before drop off. I've seen temperatures of 102 and higher being called "teething" fevers. I've heard excuses for fevers, coughs, yellow & green thick snot, diarrhea, vomiting, etc. I don't think that it's fair to compromise every other child's health just because one parent doesn't think that their child is legitimately sick. It's a slippery slope. If I let my illness policy slide for a family, then how long will it be until I'm letting everything pass as an illness that's not contagious.

I have more than just one daycare family. I don't send kids home so that I can close for the day. I sanitize and circulate toys all of the time. I don't even charge for sick days because I don't want to end up with sick children sent to me because the parents feel like they've already paid for the service so they might as well use it. I don't stand to benefit from sending a child home sick. In fact, it is a financial hit for me to send a kid home sick. I am acting in the interest of all of the kids in my care, including my own.
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