Parents Magazine October Issue

Did anyone read the October issue of Today's Parent? Page 57 Sick day Stategies was interesting. It basically had a couple of parents who admitted medicating their kids and sending them to daycare just so they could get to work. It also said that a study in the US journal or Pediatrics fount that 57% of sick children were sent home from childcare unnecessarily.

And then Page 107 the article is called "Nixing the Nap" which panics me because it basically seems to say that even some 2 year olds are ready to stop napping.

"If it's been half an hour and he's still not sleeping, he is done (with napping)" says Manisha Witmans of Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton. "if children really are tired, they will fall asleep."

Well....I have a dck who usually takes about 30 minutes of talking to himself and playing before he falls asleep. I don't get why half an hour is some sort of indicator.

And then another little blurb says "While most children can adapty to napping at daycare and not at home, it's important to provide some predictability. "If routines are changing every day, the child will give you signals," Granic says. 'If she's tired, cranky and hyper, that's something you're doing wrong." However, if that daycare snooze leaves her lying awake at night, ask about shortening the nap or substituting quiet time."

So......we as providers should potentially substitute quiet time because the child stays awake a long time at night at their own home? I do have a parent who has told me that their child goes to sleep at 9 or 10 every night but this child goes to sleep really fast here at nap time and usually needs to be woken up again at around 2:30 as not to oversleep the 3 pm nap cutoff. The child seems tired...especially in the mornings when the dck arrives and goes through the morning and before nap. The DCK seems tired and wants to sleep and falls asleep here every day without issue so how would I substitute quiet time? Even if I gave her a basket of books and an etch and sketch like the article suggests --they will still doze off because they are tired.

I think this magazine is not necessarily seeing the big picture on some of these articles

What this isn't taking into account is that naptime and rest/quiet time are not the same thing. I can keep a child going all day but as soon as that parent puts the child into the carseat to go home the child is going to fall asleep enroute. Also the requirements for sleep say a child should sleep 12 hours overnight but a child that is up at 6 to eat and be at my house for 7 you can be sure was not fed and in bed for 6pm the night before therefore got less than the required overnight sleep so they have to make that up somewhere.

At the same time one of the reasons the child you have sleeps at daycare and goes to bed late is because his schedule is mixed up. Over a long weekend the parents need to work on realigning his day so that he goes to sleep earlier at night and then in theory he will be more rested and need less nap the next day meaning he wakes earlier.

As far as the article goes some of it is one of those in an ideal world sort of thing. My own kids did not nap in the afternoon and 2 out of 4 had given up morning naps by 6 months. But they still spent an hour in the morning in the playpen while I did whatever else with the other kids and I spent mommy and own kid time with them in the afternoon while the daycare napped. The daycare kids thought they were going to their own room to sleep when what we did was curl up on the couch and watch tv while I had a cup of tea etc. This was all because they were put to bed at a reasonable hour and allowed to sleep as long as they needed to in the morning as I didn't need to get them up to go to daycare.

Would make me wonder what info the lady was drawing from to make her statements. Especially given the daycare/government rule is minimum one hour of naptime/rest time.

Thanks for those tidbits. That was interesting. But......You know what? ............

I don't care. I really don't care what some magazine is telling parents. I don't care if the parents read it. I don't care if the parents agree with it. And the reason I don't care is because I don't agree with it and MY business is built on the principles that I believe in and what work for ME and the group of children as a whole.

MY business says that ALL children WILL lay down and nap and/or lay down and be quiet during nap time. That is what is required here and what works for the group AND the provider.

And that, in short, is just the way it is.

If a parent came to me and asked me not to nap their child I would simply state what I have always stated:

If your child has outgrown their nap they have outgrown my daycare

Done. And yes, I do mean it.;)

It bothers me that any "expert" or parent would think it okay to come and demand things like no naps for their child in a GROUP daycare. It doesn't work that way. If parents want to pay $3 or $4 an HOUR to a provider for the HUGE responsibility of caring for their child then they are also paying for the fact that there are other kids in care who make up the rest of the income needed by the provider. Therefore, every child is treated as part of a group. And napping in good for the group.

If you want individualized care then hire a nanny and pay the $10.25 an hour minimum wage, the employer contribution of EI and CPP etc etc and your child can stay awake all....day....long.

I just read the article on sick kids and agree with it on the most part, except for a few points. If a child vomits, there is something wrong and they need their parents. End of story. Also, the reason daycares ask that the child be well for 24hrs prior to coming to care is because the don't want every other kid getting sick. When it's your own kid being kept healthy, you'll appreciate the rule. And lastly, you are a PARENT. That child is your primary concern, not an inconvinience.

Quote:

---

Pediatrics fount that 57% of sick children were sent home from childcare unnecessarily.

---

Okay, so what does that really mean? Because seriously, I could totally see a ped saying there is nothing "wrong" with a kid sent home because they were screaming their head off all day because they were in pain from teething. Sorry, but if the child can not participate and is in PAIN then, yes, they are not "well enough" to be in care.

Heck, I have heard of peds (through the parents, of course) stating that child with chicken pox is fine to return to care under the premise that they were contagious before they presented with spots. Really?? Because even though they are not contagious is it NOT sanitary to have some kid oozing juices from their "spots" and otherwise just cranky and feeling like crap in care.

Or, what about the kid who was vaccinated two hours ago and is said to be "fine" to return to care? It's ALL fine and dandy if one, that kid does not shed his new live vaccine onto his friends. Or, two, it's all fine UNTIL that kid has an adverse reaction, spikes a fever and DIES in the daycare playpen over the course of the two hour nap period. Nothing is "fine" then.

Once again - it all goes back to GROUP care. This is not nanny care, not one-on-one care, it's GROUP care. So, if a child needs special care for ANY reason that takes time away from the other kids while a provider tends to one child. It doesn't work that way.

I think what people need to realize is that even on the BEST of days when we open our doors we are accepting tremendous risk and liability. To further allow sick children in our care, or worse yet - kids medicated secretly - heightens that risk. It is a risk to the child himself, the other children in our care and our livelyhood.