Not what you want to hear at drop-off

[playfelt]

What is interesting about the comments here is that the mom didn't have to tell the provider about the child. It was very nice of her to divulge the information so the provider could take the necessary steps. With those that are saying they would turn the child away it then comes down to a is it any wonder parents don't tell you these things in the morning such as how the child's night was, if they were given tylenol or dimetapp before coming. I get the rationale for wanting to just send the kid back home and yes the 24 hour policy is there but as I said if you want parents to be honest with you then you have to sometimes give the child the benefit of the doubt and respect their honesty.

[cfred]

Wow, you're awesome for even taking him! I also have a 24 hour vomiting policy. I don't care what the parent 'thinks' the reason is for vomiting. Stomach bugs go through like wildfire!

Hope youre day ended up being ok

[mimi]

My mantra with the parents is the more I know, the better I can care for your child. This usually losens lips. If a puking/diarrhea incident is more than 12 hrs old and was not accompanied by a fever, I usually will give it a go with the child but I alert the parents to expect a call today should their be a reaccurence.

[Lou]

I agree, it's really cool that the parents were up front and honest about the vomitting. However, at the end of the day it isn't going to matter...whether or not the provider is made aware and the child attends, the child risks infecting the rest of the group. My dc parents are always up front as well, but it is my responsibility as a caregiver to protect the other kids. I always thank them profusely for their honesty, and remind them that the 24 hrs policy is in place to protect the whole group and prevent me from having to close. I also remind them that I do the same with other children to prevent her children from becoming ill. They are always understanding, which is why they were honest in the first place.

Of course, I'm one of those people who can't wrap their heads around why a parent would even want to send their child who has been throwing up to daycare in the first place!!

[Inspired by Reggio]

I am with Mimi and Playfelt ... my illness policy is also 24 hours free of vomiting/diarrhea however I do not necessarily define ONE vomit or ONE loose bowel movement as falling into this exclusion requirement as for me there are other factors I consider such as age and what is going on over all with their health and life ... IME some infants and young toddlers often have isolated incidence of puke or loose stools and are not sick but rather teething or just eating something new that did not agree with them or anxiety/stress over something causes additional stomach acid on them ~ so I would discuss all the factors and ask lots of questions with the parents and make individual judgement calls if they could stay or not.

So if it was one vomit hours prior to daycare and they were up and in good spirits had eaten breakfast and it stayed down and they had no other symptoms and there were no other cases of stomach bug in play in the program to consider I would allow the child into care giving the first client the benefit of the doubt that it could just be 'something did not agree with them' ... if someone else starts with the puking than I consider it an 'outbreak' and one vomit = exclusion moving forward for everyone else!

99% of the time the benefit of the doubt was warranted as it was just that isolated incident and that 1% you learn from that THAT kid is prone to long periods between puking with the flu so next time you suggest perhaps they stay home just in case I had one client like that when their kid had the flu they would never puke lots in a row they would yo yo between puking and than would want to eat seem fine running around normal so you'd feed them and wham they'd puke again so THAT client learned to keep their kid home and not attempt to call me and try and get the benefit of the doubt ruling

In my years I have had kids in care who if they got in trouble for something they would puke shortly after from the emotional impact or if they got hurt and cried too hard they would gag on their snot and puke ~ just really 'nervous stomach' kids ... if that poor client had to take 24 hours off of work every time their child got in trouble or tripped and bumped themselves they might as well quit work and stay home ... now if they puked outside of those precursor scenarios than I would certainly have given the parent a call and thankfully by about 18 months they out grew it! To be honest I was one of 'those' kids who puked when stressed which is why I might be more empathetic to parents dealing with such kids!

IMO we learn to 'know' our daycare children and what is normal for them through open honest communication with parents ~ I totally agree with Playfelt that if we use their open communication and honesty against parents to enforce a black and white policy you promote a culture where they will 'tell you what you want to hear' or aka lie by omission if they truly think their kid is 'fine' .... I saw this all the time in centre care and to be honest I often took the parents side in those scenarios cause I worked with staff who would blatantly strive to send home children who were not 'truly' too sick as per the public health guidelines but just not 100% but otherwise 'coping' and so they would embellish symptoms because they wanted the kid sent home so they could have a quieter ratio and not have to deal with the ... so the kid with a minor common cold who put to much in their mouth and gagged on their mucus trying to swallow it during lunch and spit the food out would be deemed to have 'vomited all over the place' and than sent home for 24 hours as the parent watched their kid running around 'normal' with nothing but a little bit of winter snot nose and a weak gag reflux ...when that happens to parents often enough and they start looking for ways to 'hide' those symptoms so their kid can cope at daycare and they are not taking too much time off work!

[Momof4]

Oh, nonononono! I also have a 24 hour vomit policy and would have sent them home at the door.

[daycarewhisperer]

What is interesting about the comments here is that the mom didn't have to tell the provider about the child. It was very nice of her to divulge the information so the provider could take the necessary steps. With those that are saying they would turn the child away it then comes down to a is it any wonder parents don't tell you these things in the morning such as how the child's night was, if they were given tylenol or dimetapp before coming. I get the rationale for wanting to just send the kid back home and yes the 24 hour policy is there but as I said if you want parents to be honest with you then you have to sometimes give the child the benefit of the doubt and respect their honesty.

I don't agree with this. To me it reads "If you want the parents to be honest with you you have to agree to accept their sick kid and deal". Why have illness policies if the only requirement of the parent is to tell you the kid is sick?

We ARE asking parents to follow the illness policies and not bring a kid who was puking a few hours ago. I do NOT accept the parents diagnosis as of "why"... as in... "he ate too much". In twenty years of running home child care I can count on one hand the number of times a parent correctly diagnosed their child's excludable symptoms. Parents diagnosises are whatever explains it that means the kid can come to day care.

To me, this is like saying we shouldn't expect the parents to be decent people. We shouldn't expect them not to be liars. We shouldn't expect them to think of my health, my sons health, my staff assistants health, and the health of the other children. It IS okay to set illness policies and EXPECT the parents READ them... check them when in doubt... call when in doubt before they bring the child... and report all medications.

[daycarewhisperer]

I am with Mimi and Playfelt ... my illness policy is also 24 hours free of vomiting/diarrhea however I do not necessarily define ONE vomit or ONE loose bowel movement as falling into this exclusion requirement as for me there are other factors I consider such as age and what is going on over all with their health and life ... IME some infants and young toddlers often have isolated incidence of puke or loose stools and are not sick but rather teething or just eating something new that did not agree with them or anxiety/stress over something causes additional stomach acid on them ~ so I would discuss all the factors and ask lots of questions with the parents and make individual judgement calls if they could stay or not.

So if it was one vomit hours prior to daycare and they were up and in good spirits had eaten breakfast and it stayed down and they had no other symptoms and there were no other cases of stomach bug in play in the program to consider I would allow the child into care giving the first client the benefit of the doubt that it could just be 'something did not agree with them' ... if someone else starts with the puking than I consider it an 'outbreak' and one vomit = exclusion moving forward for everyone else!

99% of the time the benefit of the doubt was warranted as it was just that isolated incident and that 1% you learn from that THAT kid is prone to long periods between puking with the flu so next time you suggest perhaps they stay home just in case I had one client like that when their kid had the flu they would never puke lots in a row they would yo yo between puking and than would want to eat seem fine running around normal so you'd feed them and wham they'd puke again so THAT client learned to keep their kid home and not attempt to call me and try and get the benefit of the doubt ruling

In my years I have had kids in care who if they got in trouble for something they would puke shortly after from the emotional impact or if they got hurt and cried too hard they would gag on their snot and puke ~ just really 'nervous stomach' kids ... if that poor client had to take 24 hours off of work every time their child got in trouble or tripped and bumped themselves they might as well quit work and stay home ... now if they puked outside of those precursor scenarios than I would certainly have given the parent a call and thankfully by about 18 months they out grew it! To be honest I was one of 'those' kids who puked when stressed which is why I might be more empathetic to parents dealing with such kids!

IMO we learn to 'know' our daycare children and what is normal for them through open honest communication with parents ~ I totally agree with Playfelt that if we use their open communication and honesty against parents to enforce a black and white policy you promote a culture where they will 'tell you what you want to hear' or aka lie by omission if they truly think their kid is 'fine' .... I saw this all the time in centre care and to be honest I often took the parents side in those scenarios cause I worked with staff who would blatantly strive to send home children who were not 'truly' too sick as per the public health guidelines but just not 100% but otherwise 'coping' and so they would embellish symptoms because they wanted the kid sent home so they could have a quieter ratio and not have to deal with the ... so the kid with a minor common cold who put to much in their mouth and gagged on their mucus trying to swallow it during lunch and spit the food out would be deemed to have 'vomited all over the place' and than sent home for 24 hours as the parent watched their kid running around 'normal' with nothing but a little bit of winter snot nose and a weak gag reflux ...when that happens to parents often enough and they start looking for ways to 'hide' those symptoms so their kid can cope at daycare and they are not taking too much time off work!

I don't think it's a matter of knowing your day care kids and what is normal for them. To me, this means that we can then exclude if we see something that is abnormal that would not be on the sick policy. When it comes to us excluding the parents expect black and white. Calling and saying he is "acting funny" or "isn't up to himself today" or "ate slower than usual" or "seems tired" will not net a parent to come get their kid. The parents want: he puked, he has a fever over X, he had blow out stools etc.

With your philosophy it really comes down to that no matter what we end up with the sick kid. If our policies lend the parents to lie or deceive so it's better to have the truth... we end up with the kid sick. The parent being completely honest doesn't really help me if I have to keep the sick kid because the parent told the truth. I have actual sick policies that were developed before most of these parents were even born so they don't have anything to do with them in particular. The policies I have are good policies and fair. I expect them to tell me the truth BEFORE they bring their kid and CHECK if they have questions about them.

Sure you are going to have liars and cheats. You are going to have those who minimize. You are going to have blaming of symptoms on everything under the sun that's not contagious (he overate) BUT... if you have to keep the sick kid regardless of their truth then for me... their truth doesn't do me a bit of good. I don't KNOWINGLY provide sick child care. I don't separate out kids because of symptoms. I don't alter the diet. I don't change anything in the day because my presumption every day is the parent is following my guidelines.

[gcj]

Well, I do have a strict sick policy, believe it or not. However, knowing this child and his history of 1-random-pukes and NO other signs of anything. Waking up 110% and my own son's experience with this, I accepted him. He was fine. We had a great day.
If I kept my son home everytime he puked through the night at that age (granted he WAS home with me, but hypothetically) he'd have spent quite a few months home. Or if I'd shut down each time it happened, I'd have bee poor and closed down pretty darn fast! Sometimes there are other things to consider.
Anyways, it was just food for thought!
Have a great day, ladies and an even better weekend!

[playfelt]

Even a child that has something and comes to care will not necessarily infect everyone else. Not all viruses are that virulent. Often I have had one of my own kids get sick and miss a couple days of school and no one else in my family or the daycare get sick and I never went overboard following them around with disinfectant either.

I tend to look at this as family care and we just care for whatever the "family" member needs that day. Having said that I use my best judgement when dealing with each situation.