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nannyde 11:47 AM 05-11-2010
Originally Posted by janarae:
Thanks! I think I will tell her he can return Thurs at normal drop-off so long as he is not sick in the interim. She should be here soon. Must continue with my disinfecting!
It's a very rare parent who will tell you the child has thrown up in their care IF they have the possibility of coming the next day.

You will hear many reasons for why a kid would throw up ONCE and only at your house... they gagged on snot going down their throats.. they ate something that soured their stomach, they ate too much, etc. etc. Very rarely will you get that the child actually has a stomach flu.

If the parent has a pretty good idea that the kid won't make it over to your house without puking in the car then you have a really good chance that they will come even if they have thrown up many times the day before. Many parents believe a good amount of time without throwing up is just overnight. They have nothing to really loose if they TRY it at your house the next day. The worst case scenario is that they will have to come and get the kid. That's a better case scenario than having to stay home all day and pay for day care for that day. If they think the kid will puke all over their car then they will not come.

Not all parents.. but many many many... base their decision on what will be the easiest thing for them. Cleaning up puke in the car is NOT easy and it's impossible to hide that from the receiving provider.

I try very hard to exclude for something like this as close to nap as possible because they usually won't bring the kid over the next day just to have them go down for a nap. They are trying to avoid being home with them in the morning. Even if you have a rule that they can't come the next day .. if they pick up earlier in the morning and want to return the child the next day you can end up in a lot of conflict with them over the next day. They will contact you in the evening and tell you the kid has been up and running around perfectly fine all day and has eaten like a pig. The next morning they will call and tell you he is perfectly fine and they don't want to keep him home ANOTHER day. It had to be something he ate... him swallowing something down the wrong pipe... ANYTHING that is NOT contagious.

You can have the "no next day no matter what" rule but you will find that it will not eliminate all the conflict with the next days exclusion.
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