One sibling very sick..other one still comes?

[sunnydays]

I know there was a thread about this recently, but I wanted to pose the question again : I have a dck who has croup and his little brother was still coming to daycare until today when I sent him home as he was starting to lose his voice (which was the first sign with his brother). Should I have asked the parents to keep both kids home in case? If he does have croup too, I will feel bad that I exposed the other kids to it again (the other brother already came down with it while at daycare so they have been exposed already). Doesn't help that when I called the mom, she was on her way to visit a friend...while leaving her sick baby with me Does anyone ask parents to keep siblings home when one sibling has something serious like croup?

[playfelt]

Depends on where I think the older child got it from and how likely it is to be spread. Even if other kids at the daycare come down with whatever there is always a chance that it didn't happen at daycare and instead out in the real world.

I probably would have done what you did and accepted the younger child but at the first sign of problems sent him home instead of taking a wait and see approach given the older sibling.

Just because one child in a family has something it doesn't mean it will spread through them all and there is a better chance the younger child won't get it if they are with you instead of stays home with the sick child and is around them all day then they both come back only for the younger one to get really sick at daycare now exposing everyone. Limiting the younger one's exposure by sending him to you may actually save your daycare group from all getting it.

The fact the group was already exposed to it once also shows how we can not realy prevent anything. If they get it now it will be because they were already exposed.

[sunnydays]

Thanks Playfelt...I wasn't sure if what I did was the right thing, but I was watching the younger one like a hawk for any symptoms and today when he seemed to be losing his voice I sent him straight home (he had only been here for an hour) whereas when the older one started to lose his voice I thought it was just a bad cold and didn't call home until he woke up for his nap wheezing and ahving difficulty breathing (very scary). Now all the kids, every single one, has a bad cold and cough, but I am watching all of them for symptoms that show it more than a cold (fever, loss of voice, wheezing, barking cough)...so far so good...fingers crossed nobody gets croup.

[mom-in-alberta]

I think you did exactly the right thing, and I hope she didn't give you grief for it (especially if you weren't even calling her away from work!!!).
It's tough with siblings, because as playfelt said, it's possible that they won't both get sick. If it was me as a parent I would probably keep them both home. But as a provider, all you can do is look for the symptoms to arise in the second child. You can't ask them to keep thier child home because they MIGHT get sick.