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Hey it's me again I need some more advice on siblings and illness. My oldest daycare girl came in looking like a complete zombie was not talking all day she didn't eat her meals but was pretty much quiet and nonverbal which is not her usual self of course I checked her for a fever at least five times throughout the day and constantly asked her how she was feeling she proceeded to say that dad woke her up too early that was of course 10 hours ago and she slept like a rock for 2 and a half hour nap. Mom did mention this morning if anything seemed off about her to give her a call I did not know what seemed off was considering Mondays aren't usually her days. Mom picked up early around 3:30 and said she had to pick up the other three kids because one of the three had a fever but did let me know that she would not be bringing baby girl tomorrow. I said I was going to call her around 8:00 tonight to see how the one that attend my program is feeling. My question is being as though the one that goes here had no symptoms other than being in a daze, do I consider her sister having a fever? I mean the sister is none of my concern because she is not in the program but these children do live in the same house and mom thought the need to still keep baby girl home despite having no symptoms. I don't know if I should start testing and sanitizing now or wait until I call mom tonight to see what kind of moves I should make?
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Apologies I meant to say she ate all her meals -
Don't take this offensively but you seem to be overwhelmed by potential germs and illnesses. As daycare providers we have to be diligent but not neurotic about sickness. If I turned away for every little thing my daycare kids had or their siblings may have I would be out of business.Comment
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No offense taken considering we've had no illnesses besides the common cold. As a daycare provider and I'm not going to bunch us all into the same category because we are not the same it is my job to keep everyone from being sick and keep hearing from pointing fingers which in turn that can turn into confrontation. I take sickness and illness a little bit more seriously than the ladies on this thread considering you guys have had illnesses and sicknesses I've never encountered. I was asking for advice because I don't usually consider siblings illnesses but since covid RSV and the flu I have to pay more attention to the children who have older siblings who are going to Big schools with hundreds of kids. I didn't even send baby girl home yesterday because she had no symptoms but Mom picked her up early because her school age daughter had the flu and her school sent her home. Mom text me this morning to let me know she would not be here today then I proceed to ask Mom how was she feeling because she definitely was off yesterday but she was not sick I'm still waiting on a reply. Also my cleanliness is what gets my program full. Parents always express to me at tour how other daycare centers or other home daycares are dirty the kids are running around with snotty noses and runny noses and things like that I always let them know that runny noses in the common cold is going to happen but it's up to me as the person in charge of the environment to make those I keep illness to a minimum as less as possible. Did I mention we haven't been sick here yet in the 8 years I've been open?
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Case by case I guess. I have it written in my contract that I may ask well child to stay home during a serious illness running through their home such as RSV and Flu. I wrote this before Covid.
example:
One year I had 2 infants in my care under 6 months of age. One of my 3 year olds had an older sister, school aged, that came down with the flu. Also, in their same home was a 2 year old niece that they were taking care because parents were addicts. I didn’t have room to care for the 2 year old niece so she was in another daycare BUT she slept in same room as older child with flu and played close with the 3 year old. I asked mom to keep 3 year old home too and give us a long weekend. Just to make sure no symptoms show Thursday, Friday and into the weekend and I’ll see you on Monday if all is good. The child only came Mon-Thur anyway so Friday he wouldn’t have been there. So I asked her to keep him home just one day. Mom did not like that and pulled her son immediately. Oh well. I did it because I had 2 unvaccinated infants in my care and flu always spread thru my daycare like wildfire. I have had kids hospitalized for flu. (Same with RSV) It was a bad experience. I also would always get sick with it too and end up having to close additional days and really put everyone out. I would have been very upset with myself had those infants got sick and I knew I could have prevented it.
Then there have been other times where I allowed healthy sibling into my care, no worries.
I think you should add a clause into your contract and let parents know it’s up to your discretion. We go off our experiences right? I have worse experiences with certain illnesses Vs others and I exercise my right to use caution with those illnesses.Last edited by flyingjewels; 11-14-2022, 07:23 PM.Comment
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It's definitely a case-by-case situation when it comes to illnesses that don't involved my daycare kids directly but when it's a sibling as close as a sister it gets a little tricky mom hasn't replied to me yet about how baby girl is feeling I'm going to text her in a minute to make sure she didn't catch anything and if she's fine then she'll be back tomorrow oh that's his mom decide to tell the truth about how she's really feeling. This baby girl has severe asthma and breathing troubles so I always keep an eye on her -
And I don't mean no harm but it seems like very few of us on this thread go off our experiences and it seems like money is most definitely the motive but if I get sick and of course I don't charge my parents for personal closings how am I making money ? parents don't like closings or their kids being home Let alone if I get sick and have to close all hell breaks loose lol
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Personally, I would just monitor her and only exclude if she exhibits symptoms that I normally send home for.
The only time I’ve ever excluded a child because of an ill sibling was this: On a Monday morning, dcm texted that one of her children was puking, so he wouldn’t be here, but dcd would be on the way soon with the sibling. We were leaving Wednesday for vacation. Since it was Monday, no one here had been exposed, and we all know how stomach bugs spread like crazy. I told dcm to keep the other child. Sure enough, their entire family was sick that week.
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I most likely would have done the same. Stomach bugs the week of my vacation would have been something I offered a discount to stay home for. My clients would not have even considered bringing them. They get as excited about my vacation as I do. They are happy for me when I go. -
Mom decided not to bring her today because she was acting off she didn't have a fever and she's always have had a slight cough because she has bad asthma and somewhat overweight but as long as she wasn't vomiting diarrhea fever and all that other good stuff she was here all day and got picked up at 3:00 that's what Mom told me big sister had a fever and was sent home from her school. I'm going to text Mom in a little bit and see if she lets me know how baby girl is feeling as opposed to yesterday so I can make my decision for tomorrow
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I don’t exclude because a sibling or parent is sick. Everyone’s immune system works differently.Comment
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Exactly why is something to consider I have a 1-year-old here who has already been through RSV hand foot and mouth and a couple other diseases prior to her getting here she had fevers for her first six months here until me and Mom together regulated where she went and the kind of exposure she was getting out of daycare and now she hasn't been sick since. Also she wasn't excluded mom felt like she wasn't acting herself and kept her home today
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I don't exclude for minor, common, illness, just infectious disease. I don't exclude well siblings because I no longer have a sibling discount. The sibling discount was to have the ability to exclude the entire family when one child was out, for anything. It was to minimize sibling drama and disruption of routine, not really to prevent illness.
Fever is not an illness; it is the immune system doing its job. That is healthy. Unless someone keeps giving meds to knock it out, the kid may not even get "sick" because the body dealt with it, naturally. Fever, in and of itself, is a good sign. I struggle to get my clients to understand this. They always want to keep them home with a fever, give them tylenol, and make them worse, essentially feeding the disease. Then, they argue when the kids have a double-barreled, thick green nasal discharge, productive cough, pulling ears and eyes glued shut with crud. Or claim it is teething or allergies.
I will never understand it. 
If they let the fever do its job and only intervene when it has been several hours, is still going up and the childs condition is worsening, they would not need antibiotics, doctors appointments and to miss work. Not to mention breed antibiotic resistant diseases
Back to the point, no, I would not be concerned about the illnesses of school aged children not in my program. I also would not call a parent at 8 pm. That tells them it is ok to call me at 8 pm.Comment
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Same, here. I beg parents to wait. The kids whose parents constantly give tylenol at the slightest sign of a fever are also the same kids who are always sickly and miserable. They tend to be excluded by their peers later, too. -
Well again we are not the same I am more than a daycare provided to my families I'm Gigi I'm auntie I'm cousin I'm hair stylist and everything else you can think of if one of my parents needs me at 8:00 I'm there at 8:00 especially when it comes to these kids My slogan has always been I am not your average daycare lady!!!
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For general reading by all:
The number on the thermometer is less important than you think.
“Parents may have heard that fevers above 104 are dangerous and can cause brain damage. It’s just not true,” van der List said. “Only temperatures above 108 degrees F (42 degrees C) can cause brain damage and it's very rare for the body temperature to climb this high from illness alone.”
“Really, the number matters less than how your child looks or acts or how long the fever lasts,” Blumberg said. “The fever will usually follow the natural course of the infection which is typically one to four days. After that, it’s time to call your pediatrician.”
A visit to a pediatrician is warranted when certain criteria are met. These include if your child:- is 3 months old or younger and has a fever. Since their immune system is immature, they could have a serious infection without showing many signs.
- has a fever that lasts more than four days without a source of infection.
- shows signs of dehydration. These signs include no tears when crying, less frequent urination, dry mouth or tongue, sunken eyes and listlessness.
- has significant behavior changes.
- is immunocompromised.
- appears very ill or drowsy.
- has a severe headache, earache, urinary tract infection, stiff neck, sore throat or repeated vomiting and diarrhea you can’t manage at home. - https://health.ucdavis.edu/children/...-children.html
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I have done this very same thing.Originally posted by Rockgirl View Post
WE NEED OUR VACATION TIME!Comment
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Wait so if you've done the same thing, which has kept the well-child home because of the sick child how am I being neurotic? Not trying to be offensive but how many illnesses have you had run through your program? how many children have spread illnesses through your program because you decided they could stay? how many parents have confronted you about other kids getting their children sick? How many cases of Covid have you had? How many families have been sick at one time in your program
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There seem to be some implications here:
1) The rest of us do not take illnesses seriously.
2) The rest of us do not keep our daycares/homes clean. If we did, there would be no illnesses in our programs.
So why ask advice from us?Comment
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Are the implications, assumptions are you just putting words in my mouth not one time did I say anybody's daycare was dirty not one time that I say anything about all of the illnesses in your programs you guys have spoke to how many illnesses you've had not me and if you don't want to give advice don't my show will still go on -
@JaeB….In your own words: “ . I take sickness and illness a little bit more seriously than the ladies on this thread”
“Also my cleanliness is what gets my program full. Parents always express to me at tour how other daycare centers or other home daycares are dirty the kids are running around with snotty noses and runny noses and things like that” You may not have been aiming that part at any of us personally, but I doubt I’m the only one who felt this way, given the general tone of your comments in this thread.
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I am definitely more cautious around vacations or important appts that I can’t miss.Comment
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JaeB, what's your deal?
I've been providing childcare for over 20 years. I excluded an older sibling back in 2016 because younger sibling had stomach virus.
We had a trip to Cancun planned. A 10k trip for my family. I had every right to be neurotic that 1 time in my 20 years of providing care.
The parents had absolutely no issue with this and gave me a bonus in that weeks payment. That whole family ended up with the bug.
I have never been confronted by a parent about illnesses. All my daycare families and every single person I know has had covid.
I get a couple illnesses through here each year. It is what it is. It is Part of this job.Comment
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I am MissCait btw if anyone remembers me. Changed my name since my name was in my screen name. Just pointing out I’m not a new poster.
I have been confronted by illness by several families. There has always been a lot of pressure on me to keep their kids from getting sick from a few families. I have no idea why. No one ever left me for their kids getting sick and most would still treat me okay even if annoyed. But I’ve had a couple more serious confrontations with it. Parents not wanting to pay me because their kids was home sick from daycare. Parents saying why are these kids coming here with runny noses, don’t I enforce my sick policy. Parents looking at other kids when they drop off and seeing snot or hearing a sniffle and rolling their eyes and making some rude comment. Parents getting mad at other parents in my care for illness.
Regardless, I can’t work miracles and I do what I can to help prevent spread and I think that’s what all of us here do and we all take it seriously even if we all do it differently.Comment
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Immune systems are like muscles, if they’re never used they don’t grow stronger.
Hence the massive number of outbreaks of minor illnesses after COVID lockdown.Comment
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