Some parents and childcare's are just...

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So if you require a sick child to stay at home, you aren't a very special carer? I take offense to that I'm sorry.

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No, you have taken me out of context. Something I will not apologise for.

By very special carers, I mean that they were carers who I felt I could talk to, be honest with and who had a very special interest in my child, above and beyond what I would normally expect in a carer. In that particular situation I was talking about they understood what was happening, that I was not dumping a sick child on them and running out the door. We spoke about what was happening and they actually encouraged that I leave her, as opposed to staying home. There have been other occasions where I have been called up to collect a child that was fine in the morning, but woke up sick after the nap.

I would be horrified if one of the carers chose to vent about a situation that they could have easily spoken about, that is why I also said in another posts that there needs to be more communication between carers and parents.

Well I for one can say that I DO go to work when I am sick and over the last 14 years of working I have seen a vast majority do the same.

I wouldnt go with chicken pox or whooping cough or conjunctitis but yes to a cold (unless it was a bad one). If I stayed off everytime I had a runny nose or a bit of a cough in my first few years of teaching then I would rarely be at work! Although I can safely say that I am building up an awesome immune system from all the exposure in my first few years as I didnt get a single cold last year!!!!!! Must be some kind of record! So it is true about immunity building up :)

I have seen DD's childcare workers at work when they have had a cold. I am not going to get upset with them. That is life. Colds and runny noses happen a lot (especially over Winter).

Our childcare used to have a sick day policy where if a child was sick they could have a make up day but it still didnt stop parents sending them as they couldnt get a make up day from work in many instances. They have dropped that policy this year.

DD currently has a runny nose that she must have got from CC last week. Yeah its a pain and requires wiping but its life and I will still send her tomorrow as it is just a runny nose and I know her carers will wipe her nose.

Another carer perspective - and this is how I try to explain it to parents I talk to about illnesses.

You like to have special carers looking after your child. Well. Sending them in sick is only going put your special carers at risk! Your carers will get sick, have to take time off, and you'll have to force your child to spend the day with a person they don't know because the carer needs to take a sick day, and you're paying for the priviledge!

Not only that but I have my own family to worry about. I don't mind a little cold, sneeze or clear snot, but constant oozing green snot and chesty coughs are not good. I'm a childcare worker, my passion is early childhood education and working with children, learning with children, and being able to care for ALL the children in my room. I didn't get into the job to be exposed to infectious diseases, bacterial or viral. Yes, kids get sick, but infectious diseases are INFECTIOUS. Which then puts my family at risk as well. And I CAN'T come to work if I'm that sick - could you imagine handing your child over to me with green oozing snot, coughing and sneezing all over your kids?? You would think "OMG what are they going to catch!?!?!?! What kind of person exposes other people to THAT!?!"

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MummyNaomi... see that's where it's all twisted and wrong... parents doing the "right thing by their workplaces"... what about all the OTHER parents who may now be finding themselves in the EXACT same position all because the first parent decided that doing right by their workplace was more important than doing right by their child and EVERYONE elses kids as well as the carers. Before shooting me down.. I completely understand that a lot of workplaces most certainly do NOT make it easy on parents and in fact, can make things so hard that they are afraid to stand up... BUT we need to, we need to for our kids and for others kids also.

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Totally agree OH :) -I think it IS wrong to put kids into care sick as then it just creates the same vicious circle for another family when their kid gets sick and they have to take time off work etc. Totally totally agree with you, But that aside, all I am saying is I understand where parents are trying to stretch themselves between work and family and that its not all black and white and an easy and clear cut decision for some. Yep, the right thing to do is to keep your kids out of care until they are not infectious and personally I am lucky to have family leave available or I can work from home on occasion, but lots of working parents don't have the same luxury (or an understanding and family friendly workplace) so my point is just to put it out there that the consequences that some parents will suffer from their workplaces for taking time off will impact the family in other ways - eg not getting paid, discrimination because they have kids etc.

It's a tough one :o

bahaha at the Nurses comment - We don't like wiping snot either :P It's a have to not a want :P

I don't like seeing sick kids at childcare either, it's not the best place for the child to be (think about it, when your sick, where is the one place you want to be? Home!) Then it creates this illness spreading pyramid for all the other children and carers.

Yes it might make for a good "immunity" But what happens when Child A goes to daycare sick, this makes Child B sick, Child B has a little tiny baby brother, who in turn gets sick, is this irresponsible for Child A's parent, or just immunity sharing?

It's times like this its good to educate people on who is most at risk of infection "Older people and younger children" - Do you know everyone in the daycare and their extended family, or everyone they are going to visit 24hours post of playing with your child? Infections spread, thats why your asked to keep your child at home...

This is a really tough one and at times it is hard to know where to draw the line.
As a parent of a child in care and a child care worker I have seen both sides. I will send DD to care with a clear runny nose but if it turns green or she gets a temprature then it can be a sign of infection and i wouldn't want to spread that to others.
Where I work we have sent children home if they have a green continuously runny nose and are miserable and they can't wipe it themselves. We have a duty of care to all children and it is very hard to effectively care for all children when you are constantly wiping a child's nose. Yes children get sick but they also need time to rest which most children arent able to do in a child care setting. Often their sleep is disrupted and they are uncomfortable but they don't want to miss out on the fun. With just a day or 2 at home recovery is so much quicker.
One of my pet hates as a child care worker is when parents send their child to care after giving them panadol. If they need panadol then they shouldn't be there and we actually have a policy about why we aren't allowed to accept children who have had panadol. Cold and flu symptoms with a fever can be the sign of so many other more serious diseases that are masked by panadol.

In regards to the untidy comment there is untidy and there is neglect. I have looked after children who we have had to bath each morning because their clothing was their pyjamas from the night before which they had urinated in. There have been several cases of other children complaining that there friend smells etc so there are times when this does have merit but in terms of saying that some parents just don't care i think thats abit judgemental. Some parents don't care what their children look like but so long as it's not neglectful then i don't think it's our right to pass judgement on those who care about more important things then how their children look when they go to daycare. As long as they have love and food and adequate clothing and basic necessities then does it really matter? In my area we have alot of alternative parents who often send their kids in skirts with rips etc but these kids are the most loved kids you could ever meet.