Where to Draw the Line? (Illness Policy)

[NillaWafers]

So my illness policy excludes on symptoms, not illnesses. I basically say if it's interrupting our day they have to stay home. DCG3 arrived here at 6:30 this morning and has already gone through a whole box of tissues. Every time she sneezes it's like the entire contents of her nose are expelled.

It's totally grossing me out, her mom says it's "allergies" but I'm highly doubting that as its summer and the other little girl I have has a runny nose too. She isn't sneezing every second and doesn't seem super bothered by it though.

Where do you say too much is too much? An entire box of tissues? Lol.

[MunchkinWrangler]

IMO that's excessive. I'm having a hard time with that too because once one kid has a runny nose they all do. I would have to say exclude. That's a lot of tissues to go through in one morning!!

[Blackcat31]

So my illness policy excludes on symptoms, not illnesses. I basically say if it's interrupting our day they have to stay home. DCG3 arrived here at 6:30 this morning and has already gone through a whole box of tissues. Every time she sneezes it's like the entire contents of her nose are expelled.

It's totally grossing me out, her mom says it's "allergies" but I'm highly doubting that as its summer and the other little girl I have has a runny nose too. She isn't sneezing every second and doesn't seem super bothered by it though.

Where do you say too much is too much? An entire box of tissues? Lol.

Without an allergy diagnosis from a Dr and a written plan for care management, mom can say its due to Blue Crayola Crayons... makes no difference to me the cause... the child would definitely be excluded.

ANY symptom that requires more care/attention than I am able to provide without compromising the care, safety and supervision of the other childre IS excluable in my program.

[Blackcat31]

"allergies" is just another word for "teething" and is most often used by parents whos children are beyond the normal teething stage.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

So my illness policy excludes on symptoms, not illnesses. I basically say if it's interrupting our day they have to stay home. DCG3 arrived here at 6:30 this morning and has already gone through a whole box of tissues. Every time she sneezes it's like the entire contents of her nose are expelled.

It's totally grossing me out, her mom says it's "allergies" but I'm highly doubting that as its summer and the other little girl I have has a runny nose too. She isn't sneezing every second and doesn't seem super bothered by it though.

Where do you say too much is too much? An entire box of tissues? Lol.

I would say that you're concerned and she needs to be seen by her Doctor to develop a treatment plan for her sudden onset of severe allergies. She can return upon the symptoms clearing up and with a written plan for how this will be handled should it re-occur.

I don't ever let kids in with cold-like symptoms claiming allergies anymore. I tell their parents their allergies need to be under control and that there are GREAT Doctors out there who specialize in this field and can help them. They stop claiming allergies after that because it does them no good and I'll refer them to an allergist and say they need a plan.

[NillaWafers]

Ok good, I sent her home and told her dad she either needed to be diagnosed with allergies and come up with a plan, or she's sick and needs to rest.

I normally allow mild runny noses and coughs cus if I excluded for all colds I would never have kids here haha. But this was beyond mild

[CityGarden]

Different children react to allergies differently some will be stuffed up others will be runny like a faucet.

My dd loves to blow her nose until it is raw but she is just blowing and nothing is coming out because she tend to be the stuffed up type. That said we do have an amazing allergist and a detailed treatment plan. If my dd was excluded from school everytime she was blowing her nose more than normal she would miss half the year because I won't drug her until it is needed. (She has to take an allergy med with a steroid so I limit it to seasonally when she is truly bad)

That said, I would have sent that child home because you have no written documentation that it is allergies.

[NillaWafers]

Different children react to allergies differently some will be stuffed up others will be runny like a faucet.

My dd loves to blow her nose until it is raw but she is just blowing and nothing is coming out because she tend to be the stuffed up type. That said we do have an amazing allergist and a detailed treatment plan. If my dd was excluded from school everytime she was blowing her nose more than normal she would miss half the year because I won't drug her until it is needed. (She has to take an allergy med with a steroid so I limit it to seasonally when she is truly bad)

That said, I would have sent that child home because you have no written documentation that it is allergies.

Honestly, if she was just sneezing I wouldn't care but every time she sneezed, it was all over her hands, shirt, and face. Try cleaning up that mess 30-40x in 5 hours haha.

[DanceMom]

My son gets SEVERE allergies in the spring and still has them today - his nose runs like a faucet,sneezes like crazy, bad sore throat and extremely red puffy eyes - I always have to send a note to school that he does not have pink eye) it's awful !! I agree though that child needs to be seen to get on a plan (as we did with my son). Ya never know if it's something else.

[NillaWafers]

My son gets SEVERE allergies in the spring and still has them today - his nose runs like a faucet,sneezes like crazy, bad sore throat and extremely red puffy eyes - I always have to send a note to school that he does not have pink eye) it's awful !! I agree though that child needs to be seen to get on a plan (as we did with my son). Ya never know if it's something else.

Exactly! She needs meds if it's gonna be that severe. Hopefully it is allergies and she will just be put on clairitin or something.

[MunchkinWrangler]

My son gets SEVERE allergies in the spring and still has them today - his nose runs like a faucet,sneezes like crazy, bad sore throat and extremely red puffy eyes - I always have to send a note to school that he does not have pink eye) it's awful !! I agree though that child needs to be seen to get on a plan (as we did with my son). Ya never know if it's something else.

I just don't understand why any parent would let their child suffer right? I know when my allergies get bad, it can be so uncomfortable. Unfortunately all my 'allergy' cases have just been a cold....which turned into really bad croup for my son causing us to go to the ER Monday night. Had to do daycare off of a couple hours of sleep. I'm tightening my exclusions...again.

[Mandy]

I know others have said this already, but I wanted to chime in too. A whole box of tissues that the kid already used up in one morning definitely means something needs to be looked at. I hope the parents get her to the doctor and that they have a plan in place :hug:

[thrivingchildcarecom]

Without an allergy diagnosis from a Dr and a written plan for care management, mom can say its due to Blue Crayola Crayons... makes no difference to me the cause... the child would definitely be excluded.

ANY symptom that requires more care/attention than I am able to provide without compromising the care, safety and supervision of the other childre IS excluable in my program.

I like that blackcat! Maybe we should include that very statement!

[BabyMonkeys]

Without an allergy diagnosis from a Dr and a written plan for care management, mom can say its due to Blue Crayola Crayons... makes no difference to me the cause... the child would definitely be excluded.

:::: That literally made me laugh out loud

[NillaWafers]

Thanks for the advice. Mom texted me after work and DCG has, guess what, a summer cold. She won't be coming in tomorrow. happyface

I, however, am getting a sore throat