Sickness Policy

[mammamia]

Hello, I am probably the only daycare around that allow common illnesses to enter my home. In fact the only way to be turned away here is if there is vomiting or diarrhea or temp over 102. Just about everything else is allowed. My motto is "you can't build a strong immune system by running away from exposure to illness". In the beginning, sure everyone got sick-with everything as kids usually do when they start daycare or school and it went around in circles. But after awhile, as their immune systems got used to the different exposures, I rarely have an ill child now. When I do, it's very short lived in most cases. With that said, I also allow unimmunized children in my daycare and to tell you the truth, it's only the immunized children that ever take time off due to illness (severe illness that developed after common things like colds, flus, etc) Literally! Luckily we have more unimmunized kids here than immunized so I'm rarely out any money and these kids don't miss out on all the fun at daycare. I'm just sharing what I've witnessed with my own eyes. It's not for everyone, but like someone else mentioned you would never have any kids in your care if you always sent them home with colds. This is what's worked for us. PS, I have only ever took 1 day off in the last 3 years due to illness and I believe it's because I am constantly exposed to these illnesses. I've had everything from colds, flu, pneumonia, strep, "allergies", even chickenpox run through my daycare over the years, and I still have only ever been sick once and my kids have yet to miss any days from school! We are lucky to have built a strong immune system over the many years of doing daycare! Parents' appreciate it too, when their kids are rarely sick!