Would You Term???

[cheerfuldom]

I would have a serious discussion about it but also NOT term so hastily because you are getting second hand info from grandma.

[MarinaVanessa]

*OR* he could be really seriously ill with something highly contagious. You have no way of knowing that, and neither does a parent when their child first gets sick, hence the across the board exclusion.

I would never leave it up to a parent who is not any sort of medically trained professional decide if their own child was contagious or not.

That isn't the point at all though.

Her policies exclude children who have thrown up or had diarrhea for 24 hours. Mom decided to completely ignore the rules. Deliberately ignoring or defying any policy is grounds for termination in my book, especially ones as serious as those regarding illness.

And it's the OR that would bother me.

I personally don't have a minimum or maximum of vomit or diarrhea episodes that are needed to exclude and neither do I need certain reasons for it. Just like for fevers ... It doesn't matter that your infant has a fever because of teething, she still needs to be excluded. If your child has any signs of exclusion then the child needs to be symptom free for 24 hours no matter what the cause is ... period.

That fact that DCM told grandma about the incidents but did not tell the provider sounds deliberate to me. I don't know that I would have termed immediately for this, I suppose it depends on the DCM's track record and how I feel personally towards the situation. I think I would be more inclined to call DCM to talk to her about it.

"Hi Susan. Listen I was calling you because little Johnny had a bout of diarrhea and when I mentioned it to grandma at pick up she told me that you had mentioned that he had vomited and had diarrhea the previous night. As you know when a child shows these symptoms of exclusion they can't come to daycare for a full 24 hours and I'm finding it a little difficult to understand why you would alert your mother about this and not me and then still bring Johnny to daycare. Consider this your verbal notification of probation. I'll have a formal letter in writing for you on Tuesday (if you are closed Monday) along with a copy of your contract and this policy. As a final reminder, when a child shows any symptoms of exclusion the child cannot attend daycare for a minimum of 24 hours after the last bout. Have a great night"

[Willow]

I think I would have been a bit more cynical about it

If I would have called I'd have said grandma mentioned the earlier illness and then asked why she didn't think it was important to let me know so he could have been more closely supervised throughout the day. After all, as his mother wouldn't she want him to to have a bit more special care after a night like that?

Then would come the "oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention that to you" followed by a half hearted apology.

To which I would counter with "YER FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEE-D!" (Cat in the Hat Mr. Humberfloob style).

I'm sorry, but grandmas are sweet, especially if they are the pulling pick up duty type. There is no reason she would have had any motivation to lie about something like that, I'd absolutely believe her.

I agree, if it's bad enough that she had to call her mother middle of the night the child was obviously bad off enough that he should have stayed home. "Hey mom? Johnny is really sick - I don't know what to do!" But then she's content to bring him to you.....You should totally be able to handle a sick child on top of all the others you have in your care even though she couldn't handle his illness single handedly on her own. I'm sorry but give me a break....




(Good grief, is it 5 yet? I am squirrelly as heck........)