What would you do?

[Unregistered]

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
Have a baby who is sick with a cold. Most of the children in care have had the same cold for the past three weeks. Excessive runny nose, low temperature (below 101) sneezing, and extremely tired. Some children seem to be able to carry on, other don't and have been going home.
This cold seems very similar to allergies, but isn't.
The parents of baby are prominent people in my very small town. And helicopter parents. Baby is very sensitive and needy. When baby is sick, the world is ending. I cannot care for a baby that is sick and tend to these extra needs with a group. Parents need to be at work and instead of acknowledging sickness, come up with different problems to keep the baby in child care. Teething and allergies are always the reason.
Without terminating and possibly ruining my reputation, what would you do with a problem like this? Or does termination seem the only answer?

[playground1]

Oh, man, this kind of thing happens SO often!! We have a 24 hour rule that kids with fever, diarrhea, or vomiting have to stay home. Otherwise, we have to keep them, even if we don't want to.

As a private CCP, you can kind of make your own rules, but you will risk ticking some people off.

[CraftyMom]

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
Have a baby who is sick with a cold. Most of the children in care have had the same cold for the past three weeks. Excessive runny nose, low temperature (below 101) sneezing, and extremely tired. Some children seem to be able to carry on, other don't and have been going home.
This cold seems very similar to allergies, but isn't.
The parents of baby are prominent people in my very small town. And helicopter parents. Baby is very sensitive and needy. When baby is sick, the world is ending. I cannot care for a baby that is sick and tend to these extra needs with a group. Parents need to be at work and instead of acknowledging sickness, come up with different problems to keep the baby in child care. Teething and allergies are always the reason.
Without terminating and possibly ruining my reputation, what would you do with a problem like this? Or does termination seem the only answer?

Let them know that you are not excluding for the illness you are excluding for the baby's behavior. If the baby is crying all day, needy, wanting to be held, miserable....then regardless of whether it's teething, allergies or a cold it means you have a miserable baby who needs to be comforted. While you do the best you can, this is group care and you can not give the baby the attention she needs while "teething" or having "allergies"

[Second Home]

If you do not already an illness policy create one . I had a similar problem . I re-wrote my illness policy and changed it to a symptom exclusion policy . Gave a copy to all parents and had them sign the new policy .
This way the child does not have to be sick ( because the child is never really sick ) , they just have to show any if the symptoms listed to be excluded .

[NightOwl]

When I feel like my policies are being questioned, or the decision to send home is being questioned, I put it this way:

As outlined in my policies, cupcake must be picked up today and kept home for a minimum of 24 hours AFTER symptoms have disappeared without the aid of medications. This is for the comfort of your cupcake, as most sick children prefer to be in the comfort of their own homes with their parents, and this is common practice for childcare centers/homes as a means of stopping the cycle of spreading illness back and forth. Thanks so much! See you soon!

I have found that, when I include a statement about how most other centers/homes have the exact same policies regarding illness, the parents don't argue much. It reminds them that cupcake is not being discriminated against because cupcake had allergies, but that any other place would do the same thing.

[Play Care]

As someone who lives in a small town, I feel your pain

I do think you either need to be more firm with them or let them go(very gently) because although being a provider in a smaller town can be problematic, you don't want to be a door mat either.

[daycarediva]

You need to have a drs note to confirm allergies. I don't do "It's allergies". I say "Then it won't be a problem to get a drs note confirming that."

Exclude for SYMPTOMS. If baby is feeling too ill to be in care, then baby needs to go home.

[cheerfuldom]

Let them know that you are not excluding for the illness you are excluding for the baby's behavior. If the baby is crying all day, needy, wanting to be held, miserable....then regardless of whether it's teething, allergies or a cold it means you have a miserable baby who needs to be comforted. While you do the best you can, this is group care and you can not give the baby the attention she needs while "teething" or having "allergies"

yup. Exclude for symptoms, not "diagnosis"

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

You need to have a drs note to confirm allergies. I don't do "It's allergies". I say "Then it won't be a problem to get a drs note confirming that."

Exclude for SYMPTOMS. If baby is feeling too ill to be in care, then baby needs to go home.

Exactly this.

I live in a small town as well. I just SMILE very big and say, "OH NO! Looks like they won't be able to be in group care today due to __,___,___!!! POOR THING! I look forward to seeing her again on ____! Hopefully she is not displaying these symptoms anymore by then and feels MUCH better!"

There are parents who I also add, "The state of ___ has made it illegal for me to care for an ill, or ill-looking, child."