When to turn sick kids away

[Crafty2013]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum and excited to hear your feedback

When do you turn children away if they are sick? If they have been kept home for a few days with a fever/flu and brought back to you because they have no fever but still have symptoms would you turn them away? How do you do this?

I am finding it hard to keep up with all of the boogies. Every two seconds wiping noses, and having it oozing out all over the floor and toys! I can't keep up with cleaning this up and everyone keeps getting sick because its impossible to clean these toys every day! There are just so many! Its disgusting and I love the little kiddies but hate that they are sent to me this way! (sorry venting a little)

Also, how often do you clean your toys? Do you do a few every day, because to be honest I have so many if I were to clean them all at one time it would probably take me a whole day...

Thanks!

[sierra]

Welcome Crafty! I am a newbie to the forum as well!

I am in the same boat. What I did is cut down the toys by size and quantities. All the mega blocks, random small toys and such I I threw into my tub with hot water and cleaner.( hit send early!) These are the toys that make it into the mouth All the time. I gave them back after a week and it really helped. I also had Kleenex all over the house and in my pockets to get those little noses. My policy is fever and vomiting or if the child will not kerp up with daily activities then they should not be here. I also clean all my toys every friday night and sat morning. I get all my small stuff soakingsnd clean all my books then lay out towels and wipe and lsy out to dry all the little toys thst were soaking. Sat morning I put all the small stuff away and wipe down all my biger toys. Its a lot of work but thsts part of the job! I do my own house work a lityle bit at a time during the week and the hubby is on laundry full time.
It's hard this time of year with runny noses all the time.

[cfred]

Welcome to the forum to you both! This time of year is tough and always is. Unfortunately, snotty noses can be pretty prevalent for a while. I tend to be a bit more lax with symptoms than others simply because if a parent had to keep their kids home for everything, they'd miss so much work (and so would I). I send them home with the following:

* Fever over 101F
*vomiting
*diahrrea
*must be vomit and diahrrea free for 24 hrs - don't listen to the parents who insist it's just something the child ate, and you'll hear this more than once I'm afraid. BS!!! If there's vomit, they need to go home.

I have a clause in my contract stating that I will contact parents in the event that their child requires Advil or Tylenol due to discomfort/fever, but if I cannot speak with someone within 20 minutes, I have the authority to make the call to medicate. Not many providers do this as they aren't comfortable with medicating for various reasons. I have no problem with it.

Sierra is right - reduce the number of toys if you can. I tend to do that anyway and rotate. One thing I've started doing is to have a basket up out of reach of the kiddies. When you see a child goobing it up, when he drops the toy, put it in the basket. During nap and at the end of the day, just those few toys can be disinfected. I've started doing that this year and it seems to be helping. Of course you can't do EVERYTHING...you'll drive yourself crazy trying. Just the well goobied ones. For disinfecting I use Dettol. We used it at one of my college placements and got the finger wag from Health Department as they insisted that we use bleach. However, my sensitive skin won't take that. I figure, if Dettol was good enough for hospitals, it's good enough for me. 4 - 5 cap fulls in a sink of hot water. Let toys soak for 5 mins or so, then rinse and air dry. This is my first year using the basket for daily disinfect (it really only takes a few minutes for this each day) and we've been booger free for over a month now. Hope that helps

[apples and bananas]

My general rule is that if a child can participate in the daily activities - going outside, physical activity, eating normally, sleeping ok etc then they can come. Unless... they have had a fever within the last 24 hours, have been throwing up or had diarhea in the last 24 hours or have had a sore throat for more then 3 days and have not been seen by a doctor or a rash that has been undiagnosed that has had a fever within the last 48 hours.

Runny noses are part of the job. I have just learned to accept it.

I do a really good cleaning of all toys ... all blocks... all little people... everything twice a year... unless I have had an outbreak of something then I do it right away. An outbreak this big usually closes me down for a day or two so I take that time to disinfect every corner. I do a wipe down of all main play areas daily. (the kitchen, the train table, the picnic table etc)

[cfred]

I do a full disinfect (all toys, blocks, puzzles, wipe down all furniture and large articles) every week. That's what the daycare centres I worked in did, so I've followed suit. My kids last year were mostly big, so I did it once per month and that seemed ok. With the little guys I have now (all under 2) I found it just wasn't enough. They put everything in their mouths and were constantly battling something...drove me nuts! I've noticed a huge difference in the number of bugs floating through here. I can't believe there's been nothing in over a month....not even a runny nose! Even I haven't had a cold as yet, which is unheard of for me. I don't get sick often, but usually can't avoid the colds. It takes a bit of effort to incorporate it in my weekly routine, but now I'm used to the extra work....and not being sick or losing money

[Crafty2013]

How do you clean toys that cannot get submersed in water? And stuffed toys, puppets?

[monkeys]

I limit the number of stuffed toys I have out, but when the puppets are out I throw them in the wash in hot water once a week. I wash the stuffed toys the same way, if they have been out.

Battery operated toys are wiped down with diluted bleach solution. I spray one rag with the bleach wipe the toy, spray another with plain water and wipe the toy again.

[cfred]

I do the same as Monkeys, but use Dettol and water solution to wipe things down. Bleach just kills my hands! I have eczema, but haven't had a proper outbreak in several years....plan to keep it that way