When Your Child Is Sick....

[_Dana_]

Do you close when you're own child is sick or do you try to keep them separated from the DCKs as much as possible?

What types of illnesses do you close for(when your own child is sick), if you do close?

What do you tell your DCPs?

[craftymissbeth]

My son is almost 8 so I do not close when he's home sick. He goes to his room upstairs and rests.

If I had a younger child I would follow my own exclusion policy... if they fall under any of the exclusions then I would send them to a back-up or close for the day.

[Second Home]

My own kids are older , 11 and up so they just go to their room and stay seperated from the dck . If it were the flu or something very contagious then I would text everyone and give them the choice whether they want to come or not , I would not close and would still expect to be paid .

[momtomany74]

This just happened to me. My ds is 2 and I closed for two days. Glad I did because two families (ten people) ended up getting sick within 12 hours of each other thanks to one family not keeping their own sick kid home after hiding symptoms.

[Play Care]

My kids are 8 & 9. Depending on what they have, they stay upstairs in my room away from day care. If it's something horribly contagious or painful I will close WITH pay. When they were little and still counted in my ratio I would just close.

I had a bad experience leaving it to a dcp to make the decision if they wanted their child to come. They felt that as business owner I needed to make the call and it put them in a bad position - if they didn't send the child then they didn't trust my judgement and if they did then they were the bad parents who exposed their kids to illness. It was kind of eye opening to me.

[e.j.]

I had a bad experience leaving it to a dcp to make the decision if they wanted their child to come. They felt that as business owner I needed to make the call and it put them in a bad position - if they didn't send the child then they didn't trust my judgement and if they did then they were the bad parents who exposed their kids to illness. It was kind of eye opening to me.

(Rolling my eyes at the parents, not you!) And that way, they can blame you for what happens instead of taking ownership for their own decisions! Seems to me, they need to grow up a little and not be so worried about what others might think of their parenting decisions.

My kids are grown now but when they were younger and got sick, I called the parents, explained what was going on and offered them the choice of bringing their kids or not. Very rarely, if ever, did the parents make the decision to keep their own kids home. Most chose to take the risk and bring their kids to day care because they felt the kids had probably already been exposed anyway. I think they also felt that it was more acceptable to call off from work because their own kid was sick vs. their day care provider's kid was sick.

[Play Care]

(Rolling my eyes at the parents, not you!) And that way, they can blame you for what happens instead of taking ownership for their own decisions! Seems to me, they need to grow up a little and not be so worried about what others might think of their parenting decisions.

I could see the dcp's point though - essentially they know that the provider really wants to be closed, and doesn't want their child to attend. And how many times have we seen posts here about that - "I called to tell them my kid was sick and it was up to them and everyone sent their child in!"
So I make it easy. My contract says that "there may be times a family member is home due to mild illness and day care will be open. They will be away from the day care area. Due to privacy concerns you will not be made aware of provider's family illness. Should the illness be contagious or require a high level of care, then I will be closed."

[_Dana_]

My contract says that "there may be times a family member is home due to mild illness and day care will be open. They will be away from the day care area. Due to privacy concerns you will not be made aware of provider's family illness. Should the illness be contagious or require a high level of care, then I will be closed."

This is what I generally do. The DC parents I have right now are pretty considerate and will either keep their children home or get essential duties done at work and pick up early. I was curious what others do.


Thanks for all of your input and insight!

[nothingwithoutjoy]

Do you close when you're own child is sick or do you try to keep them separated from the DCKs as much as possible?

What types of illnesses do you close for(when your own child is sick), if you do close?

What do you tell your DCPs?

Until last year, my policy was generally that my partner would stay home with our daughter and keep her upstairs, since calling in sick was easier at her work than it would be for me to close. But we do only have one bathroom in our house, so once or twice when she had terrible diarrhea or vomiting, I did close, because there was really no way to keep the germs away. I always told parents so they could make the choice to keep their children home if they wanted. Now, my daughter is 5, and she spends sick days upstairs alone (I run up meals and to check on her) if she's not too terribly ill. I always exclude her according to the same policy I use for parents.

[e.j.]

I could see the dcp's point though - essentially they know that the provider really wants to be closed, and doesn't want their child to attend. And how many times have we seen posts here about that - "I called to tell them my kid was sick and it was up to them and everyone sent their child in!"
So I make it easy. My contract says that "there may be times a family member is home due to mild illness and day care will be open. They will be away from the day care area. Due to privacy concerns you will not be made aware of provider's family illness. Should the illness be contagious or require a high level of care, then I will be closed."

I have to admit that as I made those calls to parents, I was also hoping they would decide to keep their kids home -especially when I had been up all night with a sick kid.

I was a dc parent at one time, though, and have always tried to keep in mind what it was like to have to take a day off from work because my child care provider closed unexpectedly. When I called to give them a choice, it was because I was trying to be considerate of their work situations and not because I was an indecisive business owner. I guess much depends on the tone of voice used but if a dc parent had said to me what yours did... I would have felt a little offended. You took it as constructive criticism and understood what they were saying so all I can say is....Good thing they were enrolled in your day care and not mine!::