I use to be someone who never got sick. Then I started Childcare. Now I catch everything the kids get. Ok my body catching up.

But my question is were you always sick when you first started doing daycare?

Reply

No, I've always been a pretty healthy person overall. I do think being around kids tends to build up immunity, and I've been working in childcare in one form or another for most of 30 years.

Reply

I am the same way.

I am RARELY sick and when I am it is only a 2-3 day cold and nothing serious.

Reply

Actually I feel like I am the opposite.

I am hardly ever sick. I think I have built up a pretty strong immune system over the years.

I do find that when I am sick its always over a weekend and I am as good as gold come Monday

Reply

The first year or two I started providing care were the worst! I felt like I caught everything that came down the pike. Now I rarely get sick, though like another poster it's usually on the weekends

Now if I call out sick it's usually because my own kids are too sick to "share" me, but that's getting rare too as they get older.

Reply

I have found that I get sick more than before but it's getting better each year. I think part of the problem is that my husband works in the school system as do my DCPs so we are always getting germs lol.

Reply

I get lots of sleep and I wash my hands obsessively. I will get a cold but I have never missed a day for being "sick". I missed 2 days in the past 10 years. One when I had been at emerg all night for a kidney stone so I missed the next day and the next time was when I had a procedure to remove said stone.

Reply

I'm finally getting better. It sucks to not be able to take anything to mask the symptoms while pregnant.

On the other hand. When are your kids too sick to have friends/dck over? Both my kids woke up with a bad cold and have been complaining of ear pain and sore throat. My 19m old is running a fever.

I only have one dcg and we are watching a movie this morning to help my daughter rest a bit.

At this point i don't think they are too sick... but was wondering what others point of view. Where is your line, when your kids are too sick for you to work?

Reply

I closed half a day on st patricks day, because my son started throwing up, and he was really needing me, so I had everyone come pick up, he needed me, and I just don't think puking is something to mess with it can be way to contagious, but for colds or even yesterday my kid had a really bad headache and a fever, but when they are sick, they get to lay in mommy's room and watch movies, and no other kids are allowed in, and they actually really like this, it makes them feel very "special" if another kid tries coming in they say "you can't be in here only me, I'm sick now" and well they get to watch TV most of the day so they are okay. When they had pink eye, I just warned everyone, when my daughter had strep I just warned everyone....come at your own risk.

I also want to add, that I do other special stuff for them when they are sick, They get juice, I will sneak them a popsicle, and I always let them know to stay in mommies room, no one else gets a popsicle but you, so keep it hidden, during nap times, I will get in some extra cuddle time.

Reply

Not me ... I only get sick once a year if that but I think it's because as a kid growing up I spent a lot of time outdoors playing in dirt, mud and grass. I was a VERY dirty child when I was little (ring around the bathtub after a bath kind of dirty). I also ate tons of plants (a particular red flower, the sour stems of some small yellow flowers, the nectar of a honey suckle etc). Oh and I liked to chase many a lizard, toad, frog and snake. I was that snot nosed dirty faced toddler growing up ... not so much when I hit Kinder age and even less so now as an adult.

When I started daycare I half expected to get sick a lot but I never did, I got sick as much as I normally did as an adult (once a year if that).

Reply

When I worked in a large day care centre, I was ALWAYS sick. I worked there for a month and just as soon as I got better I was hit with something else.

i was never sick while I nannied.

I think I have been really violently sick twice since opening my home day care in Sept 2011. I can count on one hand how many times I have had the sniffles. I am susceptible to getting throat infections but I just work through those, I am so used to it now.

Basically, I have never been more well than once I started my home day care. And the kids are rarely sick, too.

Reply

I am rarely sick when I do get sick it is bad and I drop hard.... It is usually around the holidays. I stay up way to late trying to make things perfect, I stress about everything and tend to not eat healthy.. and when I do that I end up with strep or minimum a cold sore

bil his first year teaching go everything from the kids....

Reply

I honestly am never sick, besides having the common cold, but that too is rare. I used to get sick with a 24 hour bug once a year, but this year and last I didn't get it. I used to work in a large daycare (for 14 years) so I believe that I am immune to everything and have only called in maybe a handful of times in those years and most times I would just take the morning off then go in and once it was for my daughter (she's 10 and is rarely ever sick too)....but a lot of the new employees would get sick and some called in all the time!
I just opened my home daycare in January and had a sore throat for about a week but that's it. I do however have a child here who's mom works at a center and used to bring him there, but he was always getting sick so she decided to bring him here hoping that he wouldn't always be getting sick and so far, he hasn't gotten sick.

Reply

I also rarely get sick if at all. Even when I first started daycare it was seldom it seemed I got less sick than working outside the home. I am a FIRM believer of Vitamin c, so when someone has a cold, I take a lot and it seems to do the trick for me. I have yet to have the multiple coughs and colds that have gone around since before Christmas. I did have the throwing up stomach flu a couple months back but that's the first in like 16 years.

Reply

*knock on wood*
I have always been pretty healthy. As a child I got colds and the occassional flu, but not very often. I have had bronchitis a few times in my late teens, early 20's. I do get a cold here and there, but it usually doesn't go any further than a runny or stuffy nose for a few days with an occassional sore throat.

Reply

My kids are in upper elementary and middle school, so they can pretty much take care of themselves if they're sick. They stay in their rooms or our family room (not dc approved and on a different level). I bring them food in the morning before the kids get here and after they go down for nap. If they need something from me, they know just to holler!

If they were younger and couldn't be separated out, I guess I would probably try to have dh stay home with them. Would depend on their symptoms. May just let the families know this is what they have, I am staying open, your choice to come or not.

Reply

Same here, minus the 30 years part. For me, it has been about 12 years of working with children in one way or another (plus, actually being in public schools). 80% of your immune system is found in your gut, so make sure you are eating healthy foods, taking probiotics and vitamins, etc. I also wash my hands frequently and have the children wash theirs frequently. They pass around things to each other despite my nightly cleaning but I have yet to catch more than a little cough or a little cold.

I have other health issues that I have to deal with (hormone regulation things) that require medical assistance in certain situations, but as far as getting sick goes? That's a rarity.

Reply

I'm here with you! I used to only get sick 2-3 times per year and then wham! The worse months were December through March. I responded by taking my vitamins, exercising regularly, and eating regular.

Of course I am obsessive about hand washing and cleaning too!

Reply

This is something I've been a bit worried about. I just started working at a daycare yesterday, so I can't really answer. We'll see in a few weeks though!!

Reply

When I first started I got a viscous case of strep throat, I seriously thought I was going to die. My first year I got every cold the kids had it seemed like, and a couple minor stomach bugs on top of that.

The past couple of years I get sick once or twice a year, nothing more serious than a cold. I haven't been sick at all this year (knock on wood) despite my dck's bringing the flu and multiple colds into my home. I don't get the flu shot either. I'm not sure if I'm just lucky, or if I've built up my immunity... Either way, I'll take it =)

Reply

When I first started my day care business, I was sick all the time. I caught everything my own kids got and everything the day care kids brought in. As time passed, I noticed I didn't get sick as often as I once did. Now, it's very rare for me to get sick. I also use gloves and wash my hands a lot and think doing both really helps.

Reply

The first year I was sick because we had just moved across the country, new germs. Now I rarely get sick.

Reply

The first year that I spent teaching younger children, the 3 and 4 range, yes, I seemed to get sick a lot. I had strep throat twice and I was so miserable. After the first year I have been fine. My main illness issue are ear infections, which have nothing to do with my DC kids. I wash my hands a lot and I also use gloves when I put on sunscreen and when I wipe really runny noses. I think that helps. I also never tough the facet when I turn it off, I always use a paper towel.

Reply

Not that I remember, but I'd gone directly from college (where I was sick a lot) to teaching in a public school (I remember stress more than illness) to child care, and had 3 children in that time so I was exposed to a lot of germs that whole time.

Reply