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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>3 People With Flu, Closed 3 Days Already, Need To Close Tomorrow
Holiday Park 04:06 PM 02-20-2013
Any one had to close for like almost an entire week? I have a big family. Four kids. I have two childcare kids almost 18 months,and 10 months,along with my youngest who is almost 17 months. So three babies pretty much . I can handle them just fine,HOWEVER... Monday-Today (3 days already) I had to close because on Monday I was too sick to stand and my 15 yr old (he homeschools by virtual school at home) pretty much took care of me&my 16.5 month old the entire day because my DH was working (He doesn't take off work to help me) . I have no family who could have/can help out.

So lastnight my daughter (7) and DH fall sick and had been in bed all night,and all day today. Tonight my 15 yr old is throwing up and fell ill ... they are getting it one by one. I have two more kids who could still catch it. So here I am already, severely pressed for time,barely no time to eat&take care of myaelf as I make sure they are all eating as healthy as possible,taking extra pre-&probiotics,vitamin C,etc..etc.. etc..

I closed today to take care of my daughter,husband, and of course had my 16.5 month old as usual. Tomorrow if I don't close, I will have my daughter (not ready to go back to school) ,my 15yr old son who will most likely be stuck in bed by then really sick&recovering. On top of that , I'm desperately needing to go back on a every 2 hour pumping schedule to get my milk supply back from almost nothing (which is NOT compatible with doing childcare,with out an assistant) . Under the circumstances, no one will be my assistant knowing three people in my house are sick with the stomach flu,to begin with.

So I am also now out by 1 nap room out of 2(my sick daughter's room) and I KNOW I can't handle everything on my plate. I feel really bad for one of my cleints because I had to give my 2week notice,on top of closing due to being sick . And she has been super nice about it. she might be mad at me now though,because last night when I had to close again (due to my daughter becoming sick) I left text messages,and tried calling her but she didn't get them until this morning shortly before she had to drop him off. If i call close it will be 4 days straight for her. She's been super nice, and even though i don't like having her child (bad fit) to begin with, I really wanted to end things with them on good terms ,and would hate for them to end up leaving mad at me,or me being unable to continue care at all.
My other client , I only closed one day so far (today) . So I don't feel too terrible about having to close with them another day. But I was already having family issues with not being able to keep with meeting my families needs along with doing the child care with the hours i was doing,so (aside from being a bad fit) I gave notice to one of them. The client who I closed only 1 day so far , comes part time so i don't want to lose them permanently. BUt my houae is a germ house right now. Stomach flue,throwing up,diareah (sp?)... So my question is,please reassure me that I am not being unreasonable to have to close another day? I think I will lose my mind if I open back up tomorrow . It's too much for me to handle on top of having to care for two sick kids, and a toddler of my own. I have a super strict illness policy and I would be a hypocrite to open tomorrow,but I feel SO BAD about having to close this many days ! We can financially pay them back for everything (they pay in advance) ,so $ isn't an issue.
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AnneCordelia 04:13 PM 02-20-2013
I'm sorry everyone is so sick! You need to do what you need to do, and if you honestly feel you can't handle it, then you should close.

For myself, I would stay open. My 7yo daughter and 9yo son were off with flu last week and I stayed open for my 4 dcks and 2 younger sons. My own kids are capable of lazing on their beds or in the segregated family room for the day, with me popping in to check on them.

Could you have a really lazy day with your DCKs, and just sit on the couch with your pump, and let them play?
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