Lice

[nikia]

You're a better woman than me. I'd have termed her by now. Seriously, this is ridiculous!

Well actually because of this problem I am seriously considering closing my daycare. I really cannot do this anymore with the lice. I am paying more to treat my home and wash everything in hot water over and over again than what this family pays me a week. It really has become to much for me added on top of late pays and bringing children sick.

[Live and Learn]

These parents don't respect you or your family or your home. Call the mom and have them pick her up!!
I have never had a parent treat me like this.....honestly....to call you two hours after drop off to confess to lice again!!!!!...what was she thinking? Why did they bring her to your home in this condition again? You need to stand up to this family or they will continue to take advantage of you.
I hope that your inlaws don't get lice too!!!
Yucky, yucky, ick!
Good luck!

[MarinaVanessa]

Well actually because of this problem I am seriously considering closing my daycare. I really cannot do this anymore with the lice. I am paying more to treat my home and wash everything in hot water over and over again than what this family pays me a week. It really has become to much for me added on top of late pays and bringing children sick.

At this point I would just term. Do any of the other kids have lice? Does the other girl that had it also have it again? If not then now you know for sure that it's the just the one girl with the hairdresser mom. There's no reason why you should have to deal with accusations and a headache.

Make sure that YOU CHECK EVERYDAY! I know you're probably angry at yourself for not doing it this week but there's no point in crying over spilt milk. Just start now and refuse everyone that has it right at the door. So far you've been lucky that you and your family have not gotten lice so just start checking it now at the door to make sure that it doesn't fester in your home. If you love what you do don't let this ruin it for you. Just get rid of the bad seeds and move on to the next client. Believe me, I've had plenty of days when I wished that I could just close my DC but you just have to push through it and get in control again.

[nikia]

These parents don't respect you or your family or your home. Call the mom and have them pick her up!!
I have never had a parent treat me like this.....honestly....to call you two hours after drop off to confess to lice again!!!!!...what was she thinking? Why did they bring her to your home in this condition again? You need to stand up to this family or they will continue to take advantage of you.
I hope that your inlaws don't get lice too!!!
Yucky, yucky, ick!
Good luck!

I have no idea what why she brought her here and then called 2 hours later and at that point she had already been here and been on furniture and everything else so I still had to treat everything. She is now on an oral medication from the doctor and mom is keeping her home for the next 10 days.

At this point I would just term. Do any of the other kids have lice? Does the other girl that had it also have it again? If not then now you know for sure that it's the just the one girl with the hairdresser mom. There's no reason why you should have to deal with accusations and a headache.

Make sure that YOU CHECK EVERYDAY! I know you're probably angry at yourself for not doing it this week but there's no point in crying over spilt milk. Just start now and refuse everyone that has it right at the door. So far you've been lucky that you and your family have not gotten lice so just start checking it now at the door to make sure that it doesn't fester in your home. If you love what you do don't let this ruin it for you. Just get rid of the bad seeds and move on to the next client. Believe me, I've had plenty of days when I wished that I could just close my DC but you just have to push through it and get in control again.

No the other girl does not have it just the hairdressers child.

Thank you for the encouragment. To weed out I need to get rid of 3 or 4 families. Some pay late all the time and do not care about late charges and others never pick up on time and again do not care about overtime charges. But you girls are right I need to stand up for my family and my home.

[nannyde]

Just because the other little girl has them NOW doesn't mean she started the cycle. She may have gotten them from the other child....if the other child has scabs, SHE has had it for a LONG time....not the other way around. And, if that's the case, then unforunately, IT IS your fault for allowing the child that you KNEW had head lice come to care. ( I am assuming, based on your OP and that since this girl has been coming THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR that she was in care, forgive me if I am mistaken) No offense...but any time we allow a "contagious" child attend, no matter what it is, and someone else "catches" it, then it IS our fault. With head lice, ALL children should be checked at the door and not allowed past the front door if you see any nits. They should be sent out IMMEDIATELY and not allowed to come through the front door until treatment has been successful.

You need to send out a notice that you have a "NO NIT" policy. One nit, and they leave.

I'd also close for the day and CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN. Actually since it is now the end of the week, you may as well stay open and do it over the weekend. And ask ALL parents, as a precaution, to treat their child and their home for head lice, just to be safe. And, you need to be treating your house DAILY until you know the issue is resolved. I'd remove any and all stuffed animals, fabric, throw rugs, dress up, etc. for a minimum of two weeks. Vaccuum thoroughly, including furniture, daily. Wash child care bedding daily. Do not allow jackets, blankies, etc. to touch one another. Do not allow ANYTHING to be brought in from the children's houses.

We don't agree on much Sister but I got your back on this one.

If a child has lice from that day forward their heads are checked BEFORE they enter the day care by me. Parent must come five minutes early every day and wait during the check.

I remove their clothes and put them into my clothes EVERY DAY for weeks. I bag their coat and put it outside all day. Same with shoes. I put their clothes in my freezer during the day and then remove them right before departure. (I know this is extreme but it's way easier than treating the house)

NO nit policy.

Nikia is right that the cost of treating and working in your house is more than you make in salary. Once the parent KNOWS you will check every day and refuse them at the door with even one nit then they will check the kid every day UNTIL you let off the checking.

Check every kid every day. Check them when they ARRIVE and check them befor they leave. That way you know the child did not get them at your house.

You can add a 250 dollar cleaning fee for every occurance and have her sign it. Big money makes them check before bringing the kid.

I had two cases the first two years I did day care but luckily none since. I don't do school aged care though now. My day care parents would FLIP OUT if we had head lice here.

[MarinaVanessa]

To weed out I need to get rid of 3 or 4 families.

Here's what I would do ... I would choose the family that was the worst one and that just really ticked me off and I would give them a 2-week notice (I would choose this family with the head-lice problem). I would not mention anything to any of the families. I would advertise (or call from my waiting list if I had one) to fill the spot.

Once they were gone I would wait until the other families asked about the termed family. If the family that was asking had a problem with paying me on time I would say that I had termed because the other family didn't pay on time, if this family was lat in picking up I would say that the other family was late in picking up the child etc. I would hope that this would work as a way to hint and "scare" the family into correcting the problem.

If this doesn't work then I would wait until my replacement family was with me for a few weeks to make sure it worked out with them and then I would re-evaluate the other families. If they were still doing things against policy that I couldn't live with then again I would give the next most irritating family a 2-week notice and so on.
I would deffinetely not term everyone at the same time and I've done this once to a family that was outright disrespectful. Once the other families realized that I wasn't going to stand for it even little problems like picking up their kids 5 minutes late were fixed. Just an idea. It's not like you have to be as aggressive as I was.

Some pay late all the time and do not care about late charges and others never pick up on time and again do not care about overtime charges.

Maybe it's time to charge for services at the start of the week before giving care? And also starting a "no pay, no stay" policy? Worked wonders for me.

"For various reasons the tuition payment date has been changed from pick-up time on Friday for the previous week of services to drop-off Monday for the next week of services. This means that payment for daycare services will be required in advance prior to services rendered.

If payment for services is not received before the start of care then families will not be offered daycare services and children will not be allowed to stay until the balance has been paid in full and a late payment fee of $5 per day will be added to their accounts. I would like to take this time to remind you that tuition is based on enrollement and not on attendance and is based on a flat weekly rate. Any days that a child misses daycare due to failure to pay will not be refunded or deducted from the weekly rate."

[Former Teacher]

I am at my wits end!!! I have one child who has lice constantly, I mean every week she has new egg sacks. She has been treated so much that her head is now full of scabs and the back of her neck has a rash. The mom is a hairdresser, so I am hoping she knows what she is doing. No one in my family has had them, I treat my house everyweek too because she is here this is becoming quite the expense. She does treat her everyweek, but they keep showing up. Since she is a hairdresser I told her she can come check all the other kids, but I am not seeing any on the others.

So this morning she came and checked the other kids, none of them have anything. But one child is gone today so the mom is insisting that is her. What can I possibly say to this parent? I feel bad that the dcg has scabs and this is such a hassle. It is also a hassle for me because I have to treat my house over and over again. Any advice?????

Don't know if this will help but.....

I remember reading a few years ago about this home daycare in town who had it in their handbook that if a child has to be treated more than once in a small amount of time (like in your case) then there was an extra $75.00 per occurrence charge. This is due to the increase washing and disinfecting that was to be done. I don't remember the exact wording.

But maybe if you do something like that it might help. Poor girl to have her head like that

[Former Teacher]

You can add a 250 dollar cleaning fee for every occurance and have her sign it. Big money makes them check before bringing the kid.

Sorry nannyde...I posted my comment about the cleaning fee and then I decided to read the other posts and saw yours.

Great minds think alike ::

[Abigail]

YUCK, lice are gross. I saw pictures and that was enough. I know my sisters and I all got lice in early elementary school and we all had to sit at the kitchen table (in our lovely 80's house, ) and have mom comb our hair forever and put a cap over our heads. She took all our stuffed animals and tied them shut in big black garbage bags to sit for weeks. She did laundry for all our bedding and blankets and jackets. I don't remember what else, but I was grossed out as a child. I've never had to deal with it with a child yet and I would probably be the first to call someone over to check it out since I don't know much about it. So glad my home daycare will only be on one level of the house with (praying!) a separate entrance/exit.

I would definitely term this family. They sent their child to daycare after brushing lice from her that morning? Do you have it in your handbook anything about termination policies or head lice? Even if you didn't, it's a goodo enough reason. I would write up a paper with your records of how much crap this family has caused your business. I'm not so sure you need to have the family sign since you probably have not each time you've sent home. I wouldn't hesitate to send a notice in the mail. It could be immediate termination for such a huge issue and over Christmas, I can't believe this family! Maybe someone can give you advice how to send an immediate termination letter including the date the parent can come pick up anything of hers. Then you don't even have to care for the child again.

If you want to keep the family, I would still come up with a letter stating this incident and have them sign it. Mention that if it happens again it's grounds for immediate termination.