Who do you believe parent or child?

[5 Little Monkeys]

I would probably lean towards believing the child (he's 5 so he's likely not mixing things up too badly) but I would let it go. I would remember this though for future instances and would question a bit more next time.

As long as they are following my sick policy, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[kindertime]

At some point the child will realize his mother is feeding him lies. When he thought your daughter was "sick", when his mom said he went "to the doctors".... over time I bet this kid will catch on and it will only result in mistrust in the parent. Once a liar, always a liar. I'd be keeping my eye on this parent...

I think I have to agree with this. If the parent is going to lie about going to the doctor for a cough, then she'll do it for something more serious. What will happen when there was a fever or throwing up through the night, maybe she'll send him anyway and not tell you.

You said you don't do sick notes, but dcb couldn't come back without seeing a doctor, so now you can't prove dcb saw a doctor. I require a note from a doctor for this reason. I wouldn't exclude for a cough if the child is fine otherwise.

And yes, allergies, also FYI, mold could be an issue. One of my dck's house had a mold issue a few years ago and he had a bad cough for awhile till the parents figured out what the issue was.

[Crayola kiddies]

I truly have never heard of a cough for allergies .... I guess I learned something new today

[JennJubie]

Yes, I also get a cough from allergies. My sinuses are so bad once allergy season kicks in full tilt that I always have that incredibly annoying unproductive cough.

[Van]

interesting, I too didn't know about the Allergy/cough at all and some coughs can last for weeks, I just remind all the children to cough into their arms

[daycarewhisperer]

I would require the Dr supply a list of the things the child is allergic to. You MUST know exactly what he is allergic to before he can return. You may unwittingly be exposing him daily to something he is highly allergic to. That is a liability I would not assume.

Saying the word allergy takes a split second. Having actual allergy testing and producing PROOF of allergies takes multiple appointments. Time to call her bluff.

[playfelt]

Allergies can be manifested as a cough. What is really going on is similar to a child with asthma and over time it may very well turn out that the child has asthma and that certain things trigger it such as pet dander - ie child isn't allergic to dogs in the true sense just reacts to them if that makes sense. When the child starts coughing they get their inhaler to open the airways and they do better. In the absence of any other symptoms of a cold (fever, runny nose, etc.) it is treated as asthma.

As to a doctor's note there is a cost for that in most cases and parents are not going to run to the doctor at each symptom of anything - they are going to do exactly what this parent did - send the child to a relative or take the day off to see if a cold actually develops. If it does they stay home, if child gets no worse they go to daycare. As to the lying - that is a result of setting the parent up to have no choice because they were doing a wait and see approach which is totally acceptable in this case but they need to tell you what you want to hear so child that just has a cough from 9 I would say probably asthma over allergies) can attend daycare.

[daycarewhisperer]

Allergies can be manifested as a cough. What is really going on is similar to a child with asthma and over time it may very well turn out that the child has asthma and that certain things trigger it such as pet dander - ie child isn't allergic to dogs in the true sense just reacts to them if that makes sense. When the child starts coughing they get their inhaler to open the airways and they do better. In the absence of any other symptoms of a cold (fever, runny nose, etc.) it is treated as asthma.

As to a doctor's note there is a cost for that in most cases and parents are not going to run to the doctor at each symptom of anything - they are going to do exactly what this parent did - send the child to a relative or take the day off to see if a cold actually develops. If it does they stay home, if child gets no worse they go to daycare. As to the lying - that is a result of setting the parent up to have no choice because they were doing a wait and see approach which is totally acceptable in this case but they need to tell you what you want to hear so child that just has a cough from 9 I would say probably asthma over allergies) can attend daycare.

The parent isn't set up to have no choice. They said the child has allergies not asthma. If the child has allergies the provider MUST know EXACTLY what the child is allergic to. The liability of having a child with allergies in your care and not having any documentation as to what the child is allergic to is through the roof. It's dangerous.

Allergies are much more rare than the public believes. It is the go to parental diagnosis to bring a sick kid to daycare. It's time for parents to do the work and pay the bills to test for allergies instead of self diagnosing and putting the provider and other kids at risk.

I have had SO many kids who had parents believe they had allergies and when tested had ZERO. By the time the testing was done they had successfully infected me and the kids. Now that testing can be done very young there is no reason to speculate. Get the testing done.