Originally Posted by professionalmom:
I am just wondering what the norm is for how many times you need to call off in, say a 3 month, 6 month, or year time frame? I've had parents complain about it. But here's what has happened this year:
1 - Parent brought 6 month old (seemed fine at drop off) and within an hour he puked (not spit up) twice and had diarrhea. So the following week my husband, daughter, and I had the flu and we had to close for a day.
2 - Another parent did the same thing and I closed for a day so I could thoroughly disinfect the entire house and to minimize further exposure.
3 - Another parent brought a sick 2 yr old (severe sore throat, not eating), claimed the doctor said he was fine - but I got the same symptoms the following week and was told by my doctor that it was viral and bacterial.
4 - I called off 1 day because my brother-in-law (35 yrs old) had a stroke (history of heart prob) and almost died. Only took 1 day off though.
5 - Then hubby came home from work at 1:30 one day and spent the next hour puking. Called DC mom to explain that there may be another flu exposure. She chose to take him elsewhere.
So, yes, there have been 5 from 1/1 - 5/17, but most of it was during flu season and because parents were the ones causing flu outbreaks.
Plus, I've been told that working with kids, you will find you get sick more often. I have NEVER had the flu until I started my daycare (at age 33). Now I get it at least once every winter.
Do you think this was excessive? I have been trying to enforce my sick policy as strictly as I can. Is there anything that I could have done to minimize my call-offs? And I wash my hands so much they bleed sometimes and I am ALWAYS cleaning and disinfecting.
I guess I wasn't clear. For each of the flu outbreaks I did explain the situation to the parents and told them that I am working on disinfecting but would not be able to finish before their scheduled drop-off time. The parents would say, "oh, I don't want to take the chance, I'll take him / her to ..." But even though it was their choice ultimately, I did not charge. I took the hit. The only days I closed without giving them the "enter at your own risk" option was the brother-in-law had a stroke and when I had the flu (puking and everything - even ER visit for dehydration).
I guess I worded it wrong about the closing to disinfect. I told the mom of the only kid I had that day that the house had not yet been disinfected and she chose to go elsewhere. So I ended up "closed" to tend to the disinfecting. But it was her choice.
I stay open even when I am sick. I'm pregnant with twins, had severe morning sickness, became so dehydrated, I could not stand without passing out (hubby was here, thank God). OB said get to the ER NOW! But I waited until DCB got picked up at his usual time 6 hrs later (at 9pm). Ended up spending the night in the ER getting fluids. I got home and to bed at 4am, but woke up at 7am to be ready for DCB again.
Oh, and up until 2 weeks ago, I was working 12-16 hour days, 6-7 days a week. So I offer the extended hours, weekends, etc. It's not like I can "muddle" through a Friday, knowing I'll have the whole weekend to recuperate.
I have heard of daycares that close a lot more than that. Even on here, I see that some of you shut down early so you can take to your children's activities. Not that I think there's anything wrong with that. But I never close early or get much time off at all (not even weekends), so technically, I see it as I am still open more days and more hours per year than most daycares are. And I am constantly cleaning and disinfecting things while they are here (disinfect every evening around 7pm - 11pm).