When One Sib Is Sick

[sly red cid]

Do you exclude the one that is not? I have several sib sets here and sometimes the parent will only keep the sick one home.

[butterfly]

I do not, I know some providers do. I feel as though if the other sibling truly is healthy, I'd rather have them here than at home being around the sick one all day. - gives the sick child a chance to rest and less exposure to the non sick one.

[Brooksie]

I only exclude the sick child. If the other non-sick child then becomes sick, he/she is then excluded. It always bothers me, though, when one kid is kept home and the other is dropped off because I'm still worried about germs. But that child is not violating my sick policy so I have no leg to stand on just because I'm paranoid... Gotta follow policy. I have had a parent who had a nasty stomach virus and the child was brought (wasn't sick and it wasn't the sick parent dropping off) and more than half of my kids came down with the same thing at the same time because of the germ exposure on their clothes but I still had no right to exclude the child who never even got the sickness. But it was thoroughly annoying. I just maybe should have bathed him in lysol first (KIDDING). Good luck!

[Leigh]

I exclude all from the sick family. I simply state in my illness policy that if one is sick, I consider them all to be potentially contagious, and that if one stays home, all stay home.

[Blackcat31]

I ONLY exclude the sick child. 99.9% of illnesses are contagious BEFORE the symptoms begin so others are already exposed.

Also, just because one child is sick does not mean ALL siblings will get sick too.

My own two children were as different as night and day. One got strep if you said the word. The other has never had it. One was practically unconscious with a temp of 99F and the other was running around like a madman with a 104F temp.

[cheerfuldom]

I think you should accept a well child, regardless of the sibling. I personally would not go with a daycare that excluded the whole family everytime one child was sick. That is potentially a lot of time being paid when children are not there. I know that would not go over well with daycare in my area, I have never heard of it locally.

[sly red cid]

owhen one sibs is sick

sorry for dbl post.

[Blackcat31]

sorry for dbl post.

No worries

I deleted the duplicate one.

[Familycare71]

I only exclude the sick child. Although I have waived my fee for a family stomach virus so everyone stayed home before!

[e.j.]

I strongly suggest they keep sibs home but I don't require it if they're not sick. For a stomach bug, I may add an incentive like not charging while they're absent. It depends on how many kids I have enrolled and if I can afford it or not.

[JoseyJo]

I personally would not go with a daycare that excluded the whole family everytime one child was sick. That is potentially a lot of time being paid when children are not there. I know that would not go over well with daycare in my area, I have never heard of it locally.

I agree with this also (as a parent) however I if I was keeping one child home I would most likely keep the others unless we had a long doctor's appt or something that the others would not sit well during.

[nanglgrl]

I don't require it but I do suggest it, I do the same if a parent is ill. It seems like every single time I've kept one sibling while another was out sick the child at my house became sick during daycare and it spread through the daycare. The worst was 3 sisters, one was out for vomiting, fever and the other 2 were acting fine. Then I laid them down for nap and they started vomiting everywhere! It was horrible. I was thankful we decided against carpet!

[Leigh]

I think you should accept a well child, regardless of the sibling. I personally would not go with a daycare that excluded the whole family everytime one child was sick. That is potentially a lot of time being paid when children are not there. I know that would not go over well with daycare in my area, I have never heard of it locally.

The very reason I exclude the sibs is because I would not want my kid going to a daycare that allowed sibs of sick kids there. I have a mom now who tries to send sick ones (last time the older was out sick, recovered sufficiently, and the little tells me at drop off that "I'm not sick. Mom says I'm not sick". I asked, are you sick? Yeeeessss.

I totally understand that employers are downright (insert the strongest word you can imagine here) sometimes about staying home with sick kids, but I can't imagine a parent putting a job before their child...I never did and I never would. While I sympathize with this, I don't condone it, and your job is not my problem. Keeping the kids here safe and healthy is.

[Rachel]

I don't exclude siblings. I see with my 5 usually only 1 child tends to get sick, and I don't even isolate the sick one. My baby had fever for 3 days last year (high and vomiting), and none of my older kids got it.

The only time everyone got sick was chicken pox, and between the incubation period and not overlapping, I think I had 3 days in 6 weeks no one was sick. I could not imagine keeping kids home for 6 weeks because one sibling was sick. And I agree, that would never fly here.

[Cradle2crayons]

I absolutely do NOT exclude the healthy sibling.

From a medical standpoint it does absolutely no good. As others have said, by the time symptoms in the sick one shows, everyone they are exposed to is also exposed.

As a parent I'd be pretty miffed to be out in that position.

As a provider, it makes absolutely no medical sense and absolutely would not work where I live.

That alone would be a deal breaker here for single moms with no family support working a minimum wage job with no paid sick time.

My daycare kids are rarely sick anyway.

I'm curious, those that exclude siblings. If your own kid were sick, do you send them and your other children to a backup provider so as to not expose the healthy daycare children?? Just wondering.