Sick :(

[playfelt]

Yoiu can ask but the parent will likely be very upset and especially if there are no grandparents to help out. This is one of the downsides to daycare for sure. Good news is after the first couple of years you build up a greater immunity and no longer catch everything going around. Be prepared to have the parents protest and start looking for another caregiver. Unless you are so sick you are likely to fall asleep when you should be watching he kids then unfortunately that is just what happens in home daycare that you are there and struggle through as the parents are counting on you to be available and some will become so ticked off they look for someone more reliable. Since this is your first time closing it might go over better but not likely. The good news is that there is a long weekend coming up if you can hang in for that. A cold just has to run it's course - about 14 days of acute phase and another week of recovery. And yes that makes it just about time to catch the next cold.

[Spixie33]

Hi all, I am new here and reading my way thru. I was just wonder if you have parents pay for days their child is not in daycare due to illness.

Yes of course . I think it is pretty standard that parents pay if their child cannot attend. If I am open and ready to do daycare then they are expected to pay. Payment is by enrollment -- not by attendance

[Inspired by Reggio]

Ya - for me runny noses are a 'given' in the program from Oct - May at least than the 'allergy nose' kicks in for many from May - August' ... September tends to be the 'kleenex free' month

I personally would not expect a child to stay home if the only symptom was the annoying nose ... for me it is fever or vomiting or diarrhea that are the big NO CARE things - other than that I play it by ear with are they coping, have they already exposed everyone else, does the public health require exclusion for their illness and so forth.

It is the downside to this field - exposure to childhood illnesses in your direct home verses just out and about in malls and social gatherings!

[Momof4]

I wouldn't close for a cold either. In 4 years I've worked while deathly ill with colds in my chair under a blanket directing the play as much as possible without standing up. I finally took a sick day this January because I was unable to get any breath due to nonstop coughing fits and was afraid of passing out when the children were here. Normally, I would only close for the stomach flu.

But samroo, your daycare Dad is kind of obnoxious, so if I were you I wouldn't feel too very guilty if you have to take a day off from his nonsense!

To the new poster who asked about the clients paying for days off, my contract states as follows regarding fees:

Weekly fees are payable regardless of closed daycare holidays, missed or sick days. Fees are not due when the daycare is closed due to caregiver’s vacation or illness or emergency.

[Littledragon]

Sorry, I think maybe I didn't explain properly. When a child is sick to the point where they can't properly participate in daily events, you request that they stay home. But what if you're the one who got them sick?
And I decided to close because my son has what sounds like bronchitis and the other little boy has a really thick cough. Today, my charge slept for seven hours in total throughout the day. It wasn't just because of a runny nose. Sorry. Guess I didn't communicate properly :s

My main question was how do you turn a child away from care when you're the one who got them sick? Like, if I came down with a gastric flu and then passed it on the child, obviously, I don't want them coming back and giving to the other kids who may not have caught it from me. Just wanted to know, I guess, how you deal with the guilt lol

[sunnydays]

I don't think you should feel guilty. You did not intentionally make the child sick. We can't help it if we catch a cold and it spreads no more than the kids who come to us can help it if they pass it to us. You will catch stuff from them, they will catch stuff from you...this is life. Don't beat yourself up!

[Littledragon]

[QUOTE=playfelt;15266]Yoiu can ask but the parent will likely be very upset and especially if there are no grandparents to help out. This is one of the downsides to daycare for sure. Good news is after the first couple of years you build up a greater immunity and no longer catch everything going around. Be prepared to have the parents protest and start looking for another caregiver.QUOTE]

Wish I'd read this earlier lol But it turned out ok. I emailed the mom around lunch time and told her that I would be closing. She thought it was a good idea because the cold was just getting passed back and forth between the two boys. And now the adults are getting sick too. They boys are young - under 1 so a cough is relatively serious, especially since our neighbourhood had been seeing croup and whooping cough. Honestly, I think she was glad to be able to take that time off work. She's been struggling with being away from her son.

If it were that they were older, or a cough wasn't involved, I definitely wouldn't have closed. But I also have to remember why I am doing this in the first place: one reason is because I LOVE kids but the biggest reason is that I want to be able to be home for my son. He is my number one priority so I need to keep his health in check. He was diagnosed with Bronchilitis when he was 6 months old and if not kept in check, it could become quite severe.

I just feel bad because I'm the one who started eveything! haha But thank you everyone for your help! I really appreciate everything you guys have to say

[Littledragon]

But samroo, your daycare Dad is kind of obnoxious, so if I were you I wouldn't feel too very guilty if you have to take a day off from his nonsense!

Haha!! thanks!

[Momof4]

The children make us sick more often than we could possibly contract a sickness anywhere else, that's a fact! My sick policy is very strict regarding certain things like fevers and infections to force parents to take their child to a doctor, but a virus is a virus and they are everywhere and can't be escaped. It will run through a daycare over and over, runny noses can't be helped and it really doesn't matter who gets it first.

If you are sick or your child is sick you have to close for a day without pay unless you have written paid personal sick days into your contract. If the child you care for is sick with the flu they have to stay home and they have to pay, but I hope you put that into your contract.

[mom-in-alberta]

With no way to really tell who got whom sick... I don't fuss about it. As the above poster said, it's not like it was intentional.
Like it or not, passing germs around is one of the drawbacks of both running group childcare AND having your child in group childcare.
Hope you (and everyone else!!) are on the mend soon.