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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Would You Term???
williams2008 06:35 AM 01-18-2013
I had a 3 year old yesterday who had an accident in his clothes. Well when the grandmother picked him up, I told her that he had an accident and it was like diarrhea. Grandmother informed me that she got a call from the dck's mother at 1:00 am saying dkb had been up throwing up with diarrhea.

Long story short it is in my policy that they can not attend if such symptoms have been present within last 24 hours.

He wasn't throwing up and he only had one accident. I think what pissed me off is that she didn't bother to mention it because she knew that I would have sent him back home with her. He hadn't came yet, but I have my term letter already typed up and ready to give to her

Would you'll term???
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Willow 06:51 AM 01-18-2013
Absolutely.

I would not give someone who jeopardized my health, the health of all the others enrolled and my income, a second chance.


If you haven't already I'd add something in your handbook about that being an immediate terminable offense.
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countrymom 07:06 AM 01-18-2013
no, just because he threw up doesn't mean he's sick. We all know kids can throw up if they eat junk, or something doesn't sit right in thier bellies.
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crazydaycarelady 07:11 AM 01-18-2013
I don't think I would term over it but I would print out a copy of my health policy, tell her what the grandmother told you, and reiterate what your contract says about illness.
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Mom&Provider 07:12 AM 01-18-2013
Yes, I would term. especially if it's already clear in your contract.

It's not as though this child was only sick from eating something, to have both and at the same time, would indicate to me something was up. Sorry, but it's not right or fair of DCM to not keep her child home for a day. Even if it was just from eating something, which I doubt, it's not fair to you or the other children in your care that the child be sent even with the possibility he is ill with something like that.
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williams2008 07:13 AM 01-18-2013
Originally Posted by Willow:
Absolutely.

I would not give someone who jeopardized my health, the health of all the others enrolled and my income, a second chance.


If you haven't already I'd add something in your handbook about that being an immediate terminable offense.
The only thing I have in my handbook is that they cannot attend unless their symptoms are cleared for 24 hours. I think I will go back and revamp my illness section.
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williams2008 07:17 AM 01-18-2013
Originally Posted by countrymom:
no, just because he threw up doesn't mean he's sick. We all know kids can throw up if they eat junk, or something doesn't sit right in thier bellies.

That's the thing. He didn't throw up at all here yesterday and he only had that one accident the entire day, but when she said he was up throwing up with diarrhea I immediately thought he may have gotten a virus that has been going around.
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williams2008 07:20 AM 01-18-2013
Originally Posted by crazydaycarelady:
I don't think I would term over it but I would print out a copy of my health policy, tell her what the grandmother told you, and reiterate what your contract says about illness.
When I typed up my just in case I decide to term letter,I also printed out another copy of my illness policy because obviously the dcm didn't read the copy I gave her.
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Willow 07:22 AM 01-18-2013
Originally Posted by countrymom:
no, just because he threw up doesn't mean he's sick. We all know kids can throw up if they eat junk, or something doesn't sit right in thier bellies.
*OR* he could be really seriously ill with something highly contagious. You have no way of knowing that, and neither does a parent when their child first gets sick, hence the across the board exclusion.

I would never leave it up to a parent who is not any sort of medically trained professional decide if their own child was contagious or not.

That isn't the point at all though.

Her policies exclude children who have thrown up or had diarrhea for 24 hours. Mom decided to completely ignore the rules. Deliberately ignoring or defying any policy is grounds for termination in my book, especially ones as serious as those regarding illness.
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Willow 07:27 AM 01-18-2013
Originally Posted by williams2008:
When I typed up my just in case I decide to term letter,I also printed out another copy of my illness policy because obviously the dcm didn't read the copy I gave her.

Or she did, and just didn't give a rip. Which unfortunately can be the case with many many parents trying to avoid an exclusion or with those who just plain don't care about anyone but themselves - which is totally what I would assume is the case with this mom. Think about it, your son is vomiting and has diarrhea at 1 in the morning. If you actually cared about him at all wouldn't you tell the person he was being left with just a handful of hours later to be sure he was more closely monitored than usual?

She was hiding it for a reason. She knew full well what would happen if she asked someone to keep a closer eye on him.
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Blackcat31 07:30 AM 01-18-2013
Originally Posted by Willow:
*OR* he could be really seriously ill with something highly contagious. You have no way of knowing that, and neither does a parent when their child first gets sick, hence the across the board exclusion.

I would never leave it up to a parent who is not any sort of medically trained professional decide if their own child was contagious or not.

That isn't the point at all though.

Her policies exclude children who have thrown up or had diarrhea for 24 hours. Mom decided to completely ignore the rules. Deliberately ignoring or defying any policy is grounds for termination in my book, especially ones as serious as those regarding illness.
I need to do what is best for the group of children I care for as a whole. I cannot make exceptions to my illness policy for ONE child who may or may not be sick...especially at the expense of others.

I also have a family member of my own as well as several children in care who face some serious consequences when ill with something that is only minor to others.

I would not have taken the chance with even ONE episode of vomiting and/or diarrhea.

ALL children stay home until they are symptom free for a FULL 24 hours.

This mother choose to ignore a policy she signed off on. NOT cool!
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Blackcat31 07:32 AM 01-18-2013
Originally Posted by williams2008:
Grandmother informed me that she got a call from the dck's mother at 1:00 am saying dkb had been up throwing up with diarrhea.
This kept sticking with me......


This tells me the child was sick enough that it warranted a call to grandma in the middle of the night but the mom didn't feel the need to tell the daycare provider ??????

Something isn't right here.
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williams2008 07:32 AM 01-18-2013
Originally Posted by Mom&Provider:
Yes, I would term. especially if it's already clear in your contract.

It's not as though this child was only sick from eating something, to have both and at the same time, would indicate to me something was up. Sorry, but it's not right or fair of DCM to not keep her child home for a day. Even if it was just from eating something, which I doubt, it's not fair to you or the other children in your care that the child be sent even with the possibility he is ill with something like that.
I agree it is not fair to the other children as well as myself. I think for her to bring him without giving me a heads up was totally disrespectful.
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williams2008 07:33 AM 01-18-2013
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
This kept sticking with me......


This tells me the child was sick enough that it warranted a call to grandma in the middle of the night but the mom didn't feel the need to tell the daycare provider ??????

Something isn't right here.
YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!! Same thing i thought!!
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daycarediva 09:30 AM 01-18-2013
I would have probably given her a warning and then reiterated the illness policy. I would have her sign a statement agreeing to abide by the illness policy rules and include that any further violations OF ANY POLICY are grounds for immediate termination, no refunds.

If it were to ever happen again, or with any other blatant disregard of policy, I would term effective immediately.

Sometimes you really need to SAY IT and have a backbone and then things can/will run smoothly when dcp's know you mean business. If this is a working relationship that you think is salvageable, I would give her another chance, but NEVER let it happen again!
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cheerfuldom 11:32 AM 01-18-2013
I would have a serious discussion about it but also NOT term so hastily because you are getting second hand info from grandma.
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MarinaVanessa 12:30 PM 01-18-2013
Originally Posted by Willow:
*OR* he could be really seriously ill with something highly contagious. You have no way of knowing that, and neither does a parent when their child first gets sick, hence the across the board exclusion.

I would never leave it up to a parent who is not any sort of medically trained professional decide if their own child was contagious or not.

That isn't the point at all though.

Her policies exclude children who have thrown up or had diarrhea for 24 hours. Mom decided to completely ignore the rules. Deliberately ignoring or defying any policy is grounds for termination in my book, especially ones as serious as those regarding illness.
And it's the OR that would bother me.

I personally don't have a minimum or maximum of vomit or diarrhea episodes that are needed to exclude and neither do I need certain reasons for it. Just like for fevers ... It doesn't matter that your infant has a fever because of teething, she still needs to be excluded. If your child has any signs of exclusion then the child needs to be symptom free for 24 hours no matter what the cause is ... period.

That fact that DCM told grandma about the incidents but did not tell the provider sounds deliberate to me. I don't know that I would have termed immediately for this, I suppose it depends on the DCM's track record and how I feel personally towards the situation. I think I would be more inclined to call DCM to talk to her about it.

"Hi Susan. Listen I was calling you because little Johnny had a bout of diarrhea and when I mentioned it to grandma at pick up she told me that you had mentioned that he had vomited and had diarrhea the previous night. As you know when a child shows these symptoms of exclusion they can't come to daycare for a full 24 hours and I'm finding it a little difficult to understand why you would alert your mother about this and not me and then still bring Johnny to daycare. Consider this your verbal notification of probation. I'll have a formal letter in writing for you on Tuesday (if you are closed Monday) along with a copy of your contract and this policy. As a final reminder, when a child shows any symptoms of exclusion the child cannot attend daycare for a minimum of 24 hours after the last bout. Have a great night"
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Willow 12:57 PM 01-18-2013
I think I would have been a bit more cynical about it lol

If I would have called I'd have said grandma mentioned the earlier illness and then asked why she didn't think it was important to let me know so he could have been more closely supervised throughout the day. After all, as his mother wouldn't she want him to to have a bit more special care after a night like that?

Then would come the "oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention that to you" followed by a half hearted apology.

To which I would counter with "YER FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEE-D!" (Cat in the Hat Mr. Humberfloob style).

I'm sorry, but grandmas are sweet, especially if they are the pulling pick up duty type. There is no reason she would have had any motivation to lie about something like that, I'd absolutely believe her.

I agree, if it's bad enough that she had to call her mother middle of the night the child was obviously bad off enough that he should have stayed home. "Hey mom? Johnny is really sick - I don't know what to do!" But then she's content to bring him to you.....You should totally be able to handle a sick child on top of all the others you have in your care even though she couldn't handle his illness single handedly on her own. I'm sorry but give me a break....




(Good grief, is it 5 yet? I am squirrelly as heck........)
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Tags:fever - policy, fever from teething, teething
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