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I have a child in my care that has been coming for over 2 months now and has literally NEVER been healthy. When he first came he had hand, foot, mouth which the pediatrician told the parents was not contagious but it was. The hand, foot, & mouth turned into an ongoing cold. He is only 18 months old but his parents give him benadryl for his runny nose, I don't give him any while he's in my care even though they have told me to because it says on the bottle for ages 6 and up. His ongoing cold was gone for about 1 day and he returned with a hacking cough and cold again. The latest development is a stomach virus that has spread to my own children and I'm not very happy about it. I really do enjoy having him here and overall he is very well behaved and a great kid, however, I am at the point where I am debating telling his parents that I cannot care for him anymore. Should I tough it out? How would I even approach the subject of telling the parents I can't care for him anymore? I am very new to the whole home daycare world and would appreciate any and all feedback.
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I do not have a hand book (I am a very small/new operation), but I have discussed sicknesses with the parents and if he is contagious he is supposed to stay at home. He did come down with strep and the parents kept him home for 24 hours on antibiotics. However, if it is something minor like a cold/cough I can't see making them miss work for that. I know it's not his fault that he is always sick but it is much harder to care for a sick child and it also affects my 5 month old and 2 year old. I do want them to build up an immune system but I don't want them to be sick non-stop. I just don't understand how a child could be sick for so long, with so many different things. It's like where are you taking him or what is he being exposed to?Comment
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Well, I would first suggest that you create a parent handbook with illness policy so that everything is in black and white with zero misunderstanding between both parties.
Also one thing we need to learn as DCP is that we cannot let their problems become our problems. Meaning, don't feel guilty about the fact that he is always sick, it's not your problem, it's the parents.
I tell parents
As the Provider, I clearly sympathize with parents whose children are sick and need to stay home from daycare. I understand that parents are often busy and inconvenienced by their child’s illness. At the same time, please remember that when your child is sent to daycare sick, they put all children, their siblings, the provider, and all other family members at risk. One child’s cold is another child’s pneumonia, so please take this into consideration before sending your child to care sick. It is the responsibility of the parents to arrange back up care for their ill child/ren.
Please have respect for all families here in the daycare by being honest. Golden rule, you know your child best, if they are starting to come down with something keep them home. Also, please don’t forget that if the Provider should become too ill to operate the daycare, the daycare will be closed until illness subsides. Having to close the daycare will put every family in a bad situation in many ways. Remember that the decision about whether or not a child should attend Daycare should be made by the parent, NOT THE CHILD. I t is great that your children want to be at the Daycare but they need to be well in order to be here.
I also state this:
Illness that prevents a child from participating comfortably in any daycare/school activities as a group. Even if a doctor releases your child to return to care, they must be able to return to normal activity. If I feel that they are still showing signs of discomfort or don’t have the ability to participate in activities as normal, they will be sent home.Comment
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Those are all great suggestions! Would there be a way to bring this up to the current family? Should I make a handbook and just give it to them? And - what if or have you ever decided to not care for a child anymore? How would you let the parents know?Comment
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yes, I would suggest that you create one. You can just tell them that since this is your business and you plan to grow your business, you could not do business without one. Let them know that they will have 14 days to review the book and rules, sign in and return it to you. If they decide that they do not agree to your rules, then they can give you a two weeks written notice that they are terming care from your daycare.
As for telling a family that you can't care for their child any longer, I would keep it short sweet and simple. Be direct and to the point.
Dear DCF,
Effective Nov1, I will no longer be able to offer care to little Johnny. I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to care for him and will miss him dearly.
Should you need any assistance in finding new care for him, here is the phone number to my resource and referral department.
Thank you,
DCPComment
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there are a lot of seasoned providers on here with great letters and PHB. I am sure they would be more than happy to share them with you.
If you would like to see my PHB, I would be more than happy to email it to you...Comment
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Could he maybr have allergies? know sometimes allergies and asthma can present as cold.like symptoms and cough. Have they taken him to the doctor to be evaluated for his ongoing cold? My youngest is on an allergy med now taken daily and she is doing so much better! Its worth a try. But our med was rx by doctor not benadryl. Its simialr to zrtec???Comment
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Yes I'd love a copy of your PHB!Comment
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Not sure if he has allergies, I guess it's a possibility. The one day I really felt like he was acting sick and suggested they take him to the doctor they were somewhat apprehensive. They did take him and the doctor told them he had strep. I get the feeling they are the sort of parents that don't like to take their child to the doctor for many things. They chalk it up to kids are kids and they get colds/sick. My son is now coming down with the same sniffly nose he had on Thursday and it just really ****s because my son has really never been sick before he started coming. I do want him to build up an immune system but I also have a 5 month old to worry about too. I guess I was hoping for maybe a cold here and there not literally every single day something else is going on with the poor kid. I do sometimes rule out allergies because allergies are not contagious. However, there were a few times when he had a runny nose/cough and no one got it. I just figured that it was due to my Lysol bombs.
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Here are a few other threads about illness policies. I am sure they probably all contain some good rules and some great ways to deal with sick kids.
Here is a great thread that has sample illness policies that some providers use. https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29506
HTH
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I had a child like this. All the time sick, at one point he made everyone sick (I had a good track record) but he made myself and my sister (who only came 1 day a week) sick with the same cold, I knew I had to do something. I told them that he needed to come in with a dr's note, and if his symptoms didn't clear up then he would be termed. I couldn't risk losing all the kids over one kid.
well apparently he has something because he never came back, but I had the sister and she told me that he was constantly getting shots and that gma didn't want to watch him anymore because he was so sick.Comment
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