Getting The Facts About Sick Kids
As provider we are entrusted with the health and safety of the children in our care and having an illness policy in place before a family agrees to start your day care helps cover the ground rules. Parents need to know that you have a policy to help prevent illnesses of the children and yourself and also hastens recovery.
Each parent needs to know when to keep their child at home and what symptoms will cause me to call them to remove their child from my care. I also enquire if families have one or two back up arrangements in place. Having a policy in place doesn’t mean that when parents have to get to work they still won’t try to bring a sick child to your care. You may also have parents that will get upset if they think you took on a sick child even having a policy saying you won’t do that. The best time to cover all of these facts is in our interview process, where we can really ask questions on how the parents feel about your sick policy. Ask them how they plan to handle the situation if it comes up.
Occasionally you’ll get a call from a parent informing you how sick their child is and inquiring if it is still OK to bring them to day care. I try to turn it around on the parent and ask them if the child were school age would you then send them to school. If the answer is no I tell them they shouldn’t be at day care either. I also feel if they have to give their child medicine to bring down a fever before they come to day care they shouldn’t be at day care either.
Remember, if for some reason your gut says no, that’s OK. Your decision will affect the other children as well as your business. The wrong decision could even cause other families to leave. Parents of sick kids need to understand that good judgment benefits everyone.
If you’re in this business long enough you’ll come across a parent that you’ll need to get tough with. You might even require a note from their doctor to find out what the child had and when they can return. It also helps you to reassure your other parents when children in your day care have come down with something contagious. We have a right to ask as many questions of families as we need to help keep our home healthy.
Each fall, I remind my families that we need to work as a team to stop the spread of germs coming in and out of my day care. Children will wash hands on arrival and through out the day and when they get home from day care everyone needs to wash so germs from day care aren’t brought home too. If a parent is home sick and they are bringing their child to day care I make sure I greet them at the front door so they don’t enter my day care area and expose the other children. This really does help the spread of germs.
I require parents bringing children with medications to write down who gets it, when they get it, how much they get, and how many days they get it. A written note really helps at drop off time when you’re busy with breakfast and possibly other parents at your home. Now you have something you can always refer back to when it medicine time.
A healthy daycare home keeps you healthy too!
Patti Jo Lawrenz
pjltips@aol.com
