What am I doing wrong here?

[daycare]

I have in my illness policy regarding fever that your child may not return until they have been free of fever for a full 24 hours without the aid of medication. At no time will it be ok to use fever reducing meds to mask your child's fever.

It seems that NO MATTER what I do, when I am sending a child home fever, the parents say well if they don't run fever for the rest of the day, can they come back tomorrow? WTH Noooooooooo.

I have parents that keep their child home on their own and are nice enough to keep open communication with me about their child's fever status, illness etc.

They will call me around 5pm and tell me well, JOhnny has not ran a fever since about 11am this morning, so I will call to let you know if we will come tomorrow or not. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Or they were fine until the meds wore off. So I will let you know tomorrow if they are coming or not UGH I am pulling my hair out here.

Of course, I say no and explain again why, but then it always ends in a parent being mad at me and I am TIRED of having to constantly explain the policy and WHY every time. AND it's not only new parents that are doing this, it's pretty much most of them.

How else can I spell this out to parents.

[permanentvacation]

You're not doing anything wrong. You've told them your policies. It's that the parents need to go to work to make their income and can't afford to take time off work because their child's sick, or they want to save their days off work for fun like vacations, or they know they will take a chance of getting fired if they take off work for a sick child.

It boils down to the parents putting their job and their desire for more days off work for fun ahead of taking care of their sick child.

I fully understand that parents need their income and need to keep their jobs rather than get fired. But parents need to think ahead of time and realize that at some point, their child will get sick and won't be able to attend daycare or, once older, regular school for a couple of days here and there. Parents need to make arrangements for when this happens.

[midaycare]

It's just a hardship on families, that's all. I've been on the other side and had employers who were not forgiving of a woman who took time off for a child. And DH has always made so much more, so he's not about to stay home. His bosses need him there, too.

I'm a little more lenient than most because of this, but if you dose and drop, you are a goner. I had that happen to me not so long ago.

Oddly, my lenient sickness policy has led to the majority of parents keeping kids home when they are sick and I haven't had to send too many home. We have been ill-free here since July. I mean, one dck might get something, but nothing that runs through here.

[Annalee]

I have in my illness policy regarding fever that your child may not return until they have been free of fever for a full 24 hours without the aid of medication. At no time will it be ok to use fever reducing meds to mask your child's fever.

It seems that NO MATTER what I do, when I am sending a child home fever, the parents say well if they don't run fever for the rest of the day, can they come back tomorrow? WTH Noooooooooo.

I have parents that keep their child home on their own and are nice enough to keep open communication with me about their child's fever status, illness etc.

They will call me around 5pm and tell me well, JOhnny has not ran a fever since about 11am this morning, so I will call to let you know if we will come tomorrow or not. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Or they were fine until the meds wore off. So I will let you know tomorrow if they are coming or not UGH I am pulling my hair out here.

Of course, I say no and explain again why, but then it always ends in a parent being mad at me and I am TIRED of having to constantly explain the policy and WHY every time. AND it's not only new parents that are doing this, it's pretty much most of them.

How else can I spell this out to parents.

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. With some parents, it is simply a sign of the times. Hang in there!

[Annalee]

It's just a hardship on families, that's all. I've been on the other side and had employers who were not forgiving of a woman who took time off for a child. And DH has always made so much more, so he's not about to stay home. His bosses need him there, too.

I'm a little more lenient than most because of this, but if you dose and drop, you are a goner. I had that happen to me not so long ago.

Oddly, my lenient sickness policy has led to the majority of parents keeping kids home when they are sick and I haven't had to send too many home. We have been ill-free here since July. I mean, one dck might get something, but nothing that runs through here.

Hardship on parents may be part of the problem but what I see here is some parents are oblivious to life, in general. I have extended family members like that. I call their kids "captain cavemen" because all they do is run around their parents house and every once in a while the parents throw them some food:: As providers, we just have to be consistent...there are some parents you just have to stay on top of...I think we all have had and may have those parents.

[Unregistered]

Wanna hear a funny story?

I had a little one come Monday and leave at 2:30 with a fever. She was back Wednesday and fine all day, back Thursday mom said she felt warm but no temp, I checked her at 9 and she had a temp of 102.4 called mom took her an hour and half to pick up. Takes child to doctors turns out it was ear infection texts me asking if she could drop her back off at 1 LOL durning nap with a fever hahahaha NO!! You cannot!!!

[daycarediva]

It's not you!!! This all comes down to, it's the parents responsibility, not ours to care for sick kids!

[Sugaree]

I get it. I stayed home with a "sick" kid on Wednesday. His fever broke on Tuesday night and by Wednesday morning he was ready to play...and play....and play. By the afternoon we both had a case of cabin fever and the poor dog was hiding....er...napping. It was fun and we had a good day, but I can see how it would be frusterating for a parent who didn't have paid family sick leave.

[TaylorTots]

I battle this with all my parents at some point. I like taking kiddos as infants - more training for their parents on my policies. My older kiddos I just reply to any arguments "You signed the contract and that policy. If you don't agree any longer, you can give a 2 week termination notice per the contract guidelines you legally signed." They never push it more than once or twice that way.

[daycare]

I battle this with all my parents at some point. I like taking kiddos as infants - more training for their parents on my policies. My older kiddos I just reply to any arguments "You signed the contract and that policy. If you don't agree any longer, you can give a 2 week termination notice per the contract guidelines you legally signed." They never push it more than once or twice that way.

I agree with what you are saying 100%, but is that your response when they say can my child return tomorrow?

[redmaple]

I'm sure I have seen on here where when a child is sent home, a form is sent home with them indicating when they are permitted to return to daycare.

So child gets sent home on Monday due to fever, then the child may return on Wednesday providing the fever has been gone for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications.

[daycare]

I'm sure I have seen on here where when a child is sent home, a form is sent home with them indicating when they are permitted to return to daycare.

So child gets sent home on Monday due to fever, then the child may return on Wednesday providing the fever has been gone for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications.

yup I have one and it is done exactly that way, but they will still fight me on it.