Communicable Illnesses?

[Sunflower]

To be completely honest I would not renew the problematic mother's contract.
He blatant lack of respect for you and your business is just insulting.
If a parent ever told me they could not come and get their sick child I would call the next emergency contact on the list and they would be sent home. Period.
Now you say she has the nerve to give you attitude ?
You did NOT over react so please don't doubt yourself.
a parent who is only nice to you when things are going well is not acceptable.
In my daycare I do not accept children with a fever.
A noisy,active environment is no placed for an ill child.

[Bugaboo]

Oh man!! That's so frusterating Alphaghetti, I am sorry to hear that your kids are now sick.
In my contract I use the Province of Alberta's definition of a fever which I found on the web site for Alberta Health Services (maybe the province you are in has a similar definition). Anyways AHS defines a fever as over 98.6 F. taken under the arm, over 99.5 F. taken orally, and over 100.4 F. taken rectally. I used this wording in my contract. I also don't allow kids to come to care after the have had shots except my policy is 24 hours. I think if this mother has the nerve to give you attitude then perhaps its time to think of termination...she is being just plain rude. I hope your kids feel better soon.

[Sandbox Sally]

In most areas you are supposed to contact your local health association to report an outbreak of a disease in your daycare and they would give the information about whether to close or not and what to do such as what and how to sanitize as well as how long to be closed.

I told the RN at Telehealth that I do home daycare, and she said that although it was up to me, the responsible thing to do would be to close until my son's temperature returns to normal. I have already done deep cleaning in order to avoid further spread as well. She said it was not necessary to contact public health.

Unfortunately, re the personal days etc, I am not responsible for backup care, nor is it my fault that this is all happening. Whether the kids are already exposed or not, my son is sick, and my first priority will always be to him, not my job.

I DEFINITELY made a mistake re the rash. I won't make it again. I am going to amend my health policy immediately regarding vaccinations, and have the parents sign. I do have an illness policy in place - problem is, I was too soft in enforcing it.

[playfelt]

The reaction time to the MMR is 2-3 weeks after the vaccine is given.

[Sandbox Sally]

My daughter's severe MMR reaction happened less than 48 hours after her immunization. I guess it varies. I will be doing more research, as I am thinking that since you have read this, a vaccination policy might be a moot point. Thanks.

[abc123]

I have a question about communicable illness- I think my two yr old daughter may have pink eye. If she goes to the clinic and they diagnose it would you close your daycare or give parents the option to come? The problem with giving them the option would be that if their child gets it, they won't be aloud to come back until cleared up and I'm worried it will seem unfair to parents.

[playfelt]

As the parent of 4 kids who all played together and two of the girls shared a room since toddlerhood I have had many contagious things go through the house and only one or two of the four get it. The same has happened with the daycare. If you aren't closed today while you "think" she has pink eye then not much point in closing tomorrow since by then she has put the germs around if she is going to and she will be on meds by tomorrow with having had at least 2 doses. Things go through groups of kids and it is just a normal fact of life. The closing and sending kids home is more for the appearance of doing something than it actually helping since we all know today and yesterday is when the infection was spreading.

[FS2011]

We had hand foot and mouth come through here in the summer. Actually it's not on the list for communicable disease when I checked with licensing. We had 2 in care with it, out of 5. They had all been exposed for first couple days (I thought my dd was having a reaction to a wasp sting) it wasn't until we went to hospital a couple days later to find out it was HFAM. Anyways, no other child got it and most parents opted to remain in care. I did do a clean but still had friends come to my home and the kids left with HFAM. This was weeks later! It's so highly contagious. My dd also lost all her finger and toe nails because of it, which is rare. Not a fun one! Good luck

[Sandbox Sally]

Lost her nails? Oh my!! I have opted to stay closed until my son's fever has broken. I think it's good for him to have momma to himself anyway, and if I worked outside the home, I'd likely be staying home with him.

I think my closing is now a moot point. I don't think I would have any kids show up today...I received word this am that all but ONE of my daycare children now have it...sigh.

[mom-in-alberta]

As playfelt mentioned, the challenge with saying "NO FEVERS" is that a fever can be caused by so many things. Teething, or fighting off an illness, especially.
Personally, I think with most kids you can see the difference between a fever that's working, and a fever that's not (ie: at that point the child is sick). I had one of those just yesterday, unfortunately. I didn't call mom because we were only an hour or so away from home time. But he's not here today.
I think you can say "a fever IN COMBINATION with (name other symptoms) will not be acceptable at daycare"?