Influenza - Rant/Vent

[busydaycarelady]

Hello all!

I have a family, that has been an issue for many reasons, mainly their 7 year olds terrible behavior. This mother is one who has tried to "hide" her children's illnesses from me by pumping them full of Advil when they have fevers and has even tried to drop off a puking/diarrhea-ish kid in the a.m. which I refused. Anyhow, this seemed to be under control as she has been keeping her sick kids home lately. They missed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week. On Thursday last week Mom says "They have a bad cold and the cough keeps them up so they are tired in the morning, but slept just great last night and are super happy, no coughing this morning, so I will bring them". Next thing I know the kids are knocking on my door(dad drove off before even seeing if they made it in the door). Kids are pale, dark circles under the eyes, coughing like mad, zero appetite and tell me they've not only been coughing, but puking, headaches, body aches. I call parents to come pick up kids, but they're "too busy. Plus, they were contagious a few days BEFORE they came down with it, so you've already been exposed". Emergency contacts don't pick up or call back to messages either. So, I'm not sure what to do with them. I put them to bed(they slept ALL day from 6:30am until 5:30pm) and tried to keep everyone else away from them. Dad comes at night and I say they should not have left them here or even brought them in the first place! I tell him not to bring them back until at least Monday.

But, the damage is done. My whole family has is and it is terrible. Horrific body aches that have lasted all week, severe headaches and congestion and cough, terrible fatigue too. Like getting out of bed is a serious chore that requires all of my will power, nevermind making breakfast for 4 kids. So, I made it through until today and told them yesterday afternoon that I NEED Friday off as now I have the stomach issues and am not able to rest while looking after all the kids. Mom flips on me and says, "Well, great. I was going to fly out of province for my best friends wedding Friday morning and now I can't. Just great." I say, sorry but I am very sick and not even able to provide quality care to my own child let alone 3 others, plus, can't their dad watch the kids? She says no, he has other plans......however, I know it's the kids weekend with him, so not sure how this is an issue. I pointed out(as gently as possible) that had her and her ex kept their puking, lethargic, super sick children home, I likely would not have gotten sick. Anyhow, I understand they frustration of taking time off work to look after sick kids and then having your day home provider be sick the next week, but at the same time, I like to think that I would have been considerate enough to keep my sick kids home. And, my doctor confirmed, that it is indeed influenza.

*sigh* Sorry for the rant. But I am fed up with everything about this family and will be delivering a letter of termination. Which I haven't had to do yet and I am a bit nervous about. But after dealing with all of their child's terrible behavior and their not being willing to try to correct it, this has just sealed my decision to get rid of them. Because it will not ever end.

[Other Mummy]

Oh my...sending healing vibes to you and your family.

That would be cause for immediate termination in my daycare. Sending those poor sick kids to your place and lying about them being well and then being 'too busy' to pick up their kids?? How does that become "your" problem?? TERMINATE!...And don't look back. These parents are dreadful

[mamaof4]

that sucks! there have been really nasty viruses around here too, it has just been awful.

[Momof4]

Oh no, so sorry your family is sick. How mean and rude and obnoxious for your daycare family to bring this into your home! Not cool!

Sometimes we reach our limit with families who push us too far and we know exactly when they have crossed the line into termination territory. Confrontation is never easy but sometimes it is necessary.

[mom-in-alberta]

Holy crap.... that's awful.
I see from another post that you are ready to terminate this family? I think it's a good choice. It's one thing for a family to have a bad spell of sicknesses, or to bring the kids when they don't realize they are sick. But the instant that a family is "too busy" to come and get their genuinely sick child- we would be done.

[Cadillac]

OMG you poor thing. . . . that family sucks . . . . . get better.

[jec]

If your going to terminate then there is a thread somewhere with sample termination letters. This business can be really hard as you know that the families are needing you to be there and I always respect my daycare parent's need to work. Having said that, don't forget if one of them has a sick day then more than likely they will get paid for it. Now your taking a day off and not getting paid. Even if you do have floating sick days in your contract, they did not respect you by dropping off their sick kids and that is a hard pill to swallow when you give so much to their family. Hope everyone gets better soon. Good luck on ending care with them- never easy to do

[Sandbox Sally]

This sucks so much. Those poor little babies. I can't IMAGINE leaving my kids anywhere without me when they are that sick. So sorry they were thoughtless enough to spread their illness to you and your family. Regardless of when they were contagious, you don't take a sick kid to daycare! They slow/halt the group, and doesn't everyone (my own 40 yo self included) just want mama when they're feeling crappy?? In my opinion, this goes beyond being a bad daycare family, and moves into the realm of poor parenting.

I can't believe her gall to be angry at you for taking the day off with an illness that she directly caused. This is like her crashing into your car, and being angry that you can't drive her to the airport. I had a family do this to me once. Mom sent dcb with a horrible rash, knew it, said it was from his vaccinations, and gave everyone in my daycare hand foot and mouth disease, then got angry at me for shutting down for two days when my own son got it. Sometimes there's just no accounting for the actions of others. We have to buck up and move on...