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Hi all,
Wondering if there is an official list of reasons for a child care to send your child home - I understand that if the child has a temporature that you would have to collect them but what if they have a runny nose does the colour matter - cause if that's the case my kids would never be a creche at the moment!
Anyway, if someone has any ideas of the official govenment recommendations that would be appreciated!
Thanks
dd
Yeah, see I don't get that cause my when I've taken my kids to the dr's they've been contagious when it's clear and by the time it turns green they're generally on the mend - so that's exactly what I'm after - who decided this and when. Is this a fact or not?
I've been called to collect my kids from creche/kinder when they have had a temp or been lethargic or miserable IYKWIM.
The snot hasn't been an issue but then my kids really aren't snot monsters if that makes any sence. Perhaps they make a judgement based on how much snot is running out of the childs nose. I would be inclined to think that a wipe here or there woudn't be a problem but if the carers are constantly wiping it then that's when they decide they should be at home.
FWIW if they were too fussy about runny noses there would be days when all the kids were sent home.
Jack often has a runny nose and has never been home for that, regardless of color. They do send them home for diarhorea, conjuncitivits, measles, chickenpox etc. I think anything other than that would be discretionary. You could probably get the legal requirements from the Department if you asked - it might even be on their web site somewhere.
My kids are in family daycare, if the snots green you have to keep them home. Clear is OK.
But yeah I also find this to be a pretty subjective thing...my ds has a snotty nose at the moment, it's greenish but he's happy as larry, doesn't have a temp and isn't sick at all.
We get a list of all ilnesses and conditions that require exclusion from childcare, at the start of each year, and how long you have to keep them home for - i.e. this is mailny for things like chicken pox, impetigo etc.
The crech My son attends ask you to keep the child home for any temp over 37.5, or generally miserable etc. All the kids go there with colds and runny noses. That said they will call you for permission to give panadol for temps if the child seems generally happy other than that.
They generally have to have 2 sus. nappies in the same day before parents are asked to collect them, unless there are other symptoms.
I've only had to pick Milo up from creche twice, once when he bit his lip as it needed to be checked out and the second when the new teacher mistook his ezcema for hand foot and mouth, so I had to go get a doctors cert. to prove he didn't have it.
Our childcare centre doesn't have a green nose policy but I do!! So I keep Emily home if her nose is green. I have also taken her home, for high temp, vomiting or general malaise.
Yasin's sends them home for anything they think is contagious and also for general misery. If they're too upset/sick/miserable to participate or thier tears are unsettling the other children they send them home.
On Yasin's first day they called me because he wouldn't settle for nap time and was keeping the other children awake. The director said they send most children home early on thier first day.
I've just finished working in a childcare centre and we sent kids home for (apart form the obvious chicken pox etc..) 2 runny nappys in a day, green snot (again not clear, and depending on the amount too.....a little is ok but if it's a constant stream they get sent home), and temps. They are the common ones. I don't know about legal requirements and about how much truth is in the green snot thing but I've always been told by the GP that green snot means an infection of some sort.
Interesting Chloe, I've not heard of them sending them home if they won't settle for sleep. I would have thought that would be teaching the kids that all they have to do if they want to go home is to act up and cry, and that it would be better to spend time settling them so they know what is expected of them. How did Yasin go after that first day? Jack would have been sent home every day when he was in the babies' room - he never went to sleep easily, most days they could eventually get him to sleep by mid-afternoon if they spent enough time trying. But from the first day in the toddler room he was sleeping like a champion - the difference was that ALL the kids were sleeping at the same time so he wasn't missing out on anything. Luckily Tom is a much better sleeper at daycare.
Wow, how OT did I go??
hmmm...lots to think about. I'd like to be able to keep the kids home whenever I was suspicious of them having something but I would probably loose my job and that's a whole other story. I do think it's strange that some centre's have this policy and some don't so i really think we need to get the basis of it. Don't get me wrong it's not that I don't want to look after my kids it's just that sometimes I keep them home for these things and they are fine and it makes it harder for me to stay home with them when they really are sick - if that makes sense, you know for the things like gastro and ear aches, temps etc...
Oh and on the green snot thing - I think there are differing medical opinions on this. I have had GPs tell me that the color of the snot doesn't matter, just that it IS colored (so therefore green or yellow is colored and therefore neither is worse than the other). Others do say that green is bad, yellow is ok. I'm not sure that Jack has ever had green snot, but often it's yellow and he's never been sent home. I don't keep him home for it either, if I did he would go about one every two months LOL - the GP thinks he gets hey fever, so he often has a runny nose without being sick IYKWIM?
LOL, MelanieR OT - but I get it cause Kyana would never have stayed at creche if they sent her home for not settling to sleep - she would sleep for 20mins at a time - she's better now but still not great - she's a busy body and has to see what everyone's doing :)
Oh you know I forgot to mention that I have a cold atm - when it was at it worst my nose was running clear and now I'm feeling better it has turned green! I'm sure I'm not contagious anymore - so if I was a kid at creche they should have sent me home two days ago but instead they'd send me home today and I'm better???!!! (sorry tmi but had to make my point...)
Melanie, he went fine after the first few days day but on that first day he was quite upset and he was keeping the other children awake. They pat them to sleep if they need it but he wouldn't even get into his day-bed. I don't think they learn that they go home if they won't sleep - it was a pretty scary day for Yasin and I don't think it would have occured to him that he could manipulate the system to his own advantage. I'd like to think he just learnt that they listen too him and they'll help him if he needs.
Their policy is to make the first few days short ones but it was just a couple of hours shorter than I expected - the plan was to pick him up at the end of nap-time not the start.
It's a great center and they put alot of effort into making sure the children are happy which means that sometimes for the good of all the collective the individual has to go home. I'm cool with that. Alot of the children there have SAHM's so the policy works for them.
ETA- I wouldn't be happy with a CC place that didn't call me if my child was miserable. Emotional well-being is just as important as physical health
Dachlostar, being distressed is a totally different thing to the child not wanting to sleep (like mine usually does cause she's "too busy") I would appreciate it if my creche contacted me for that reason too.
I totally agree with you Chloe, I was just curious. I'm glad Yasin settled in quickly. They used to rock Jack to sleep most of the time when he was in babies. I was working so it would have hard if they'd sent him home every day, but I knew that they weren't leaving him to cry or anything. Luckily he slept well when he moved to toddlers so they didn't have the problem of him disturbing the others.
LOL Lee, good point. Maybe it's discretionary, so they don't send them home unless they seem sick as well?
I think my centre also has the policy that if they are sent home one day for things like a fever or gastro, then they are not allowed back the next day. DD goes 2 days per week and they are consecutive. So if I think she is sick I will keep her home the first day in the hope she is well enough to go the 2nd day, otherwise if she is sent home day 1, I lose 2 days of work. Not a problem if she really is sick, but hard when it is just a mild fever and a bit of grisliness for one afternoon.
When i worked in Childcare, we would ask parents to collect a child if they had a constant green snotty nose. We would also ask them to bring in a doctors certificate the next time they came - to know that they weren't contagious. There are differing opinions of the green snotty nose - and many do say that it's the infection clearing. I guess when other parents see children walking around the centre with green snotty noses, they want to know why those children are there spreading their germs around.
It's really hard, because many directors do understand how difficult it is for the parents with regards to taking time off work.
Yep, we had the same policy as Jazmum's centre. If we had to constantly wipe the green snot we couldn't let the children stay. But a lot of it was discretionary.
Another thing we had to send children home for (by law) was head lice. The child had to be treated at home and a form signed with the name of the product used to treat the lice.
I have been on both sides of the fence: been a staff member and working mum dependant on care (and a casual worker that wasn't paid if I had to stay home with my child). I can see both arguments. i know how inconvenient it is to have you child at home and running around with a minor complaint. However i can see the big picture and have also been a childcare worker who caught chicken pox from a child who was brought into the centre :( I was off work for 3 weeks without pay!
At the moment I am a SAHM because I know that with 2 little ones at home I would have to have a very understanding boss because at least once a week my children, if they were in care, wouldn't be allowed to attend or would be miserable being packed off to care. Even when they are not sick they are teething etc or simply have a rough night with bad dreams. It's just not worth the grief for all concerned.
However I know that most mums work and need to place their children in care... most childcare workers are sympathetic I think but they need to put the health of the whole centre above individual children and the careers of the parents. I think in an ideal world there would always be a caring Nana available to help out at times like this but unfortunately even poor old Nana has to work these days too or she is far away like ours :(
i am a family daycare carer. it is hard with somethings like snot. it now is if the snot is yellow not green. but if u have a child that has a full on run constant all day and is wiping snot oevr everythign then they r to be sent home but if it is the occational dribble and they come wipe there nose then it is fine. also if u chicld has vomited or had diahorea (sp) then u rnt ment to put them in care for 24hrs after the first full on solid poo.
i have had some parents bring kids days in a row when poo is running out everywhere and then get the ****s when i call them.
I agree with Sassy, nearly everytime a parent that is called to come and collect their child from care expresses some degree of annoyance and frustration... to varying degrees. Staff are often asked if it is really necessary and many parents take out their frustrations on them. They forget that we are just trying to do our job, just like they are. We often were made to feel that we were asking them to take the children to ease our workload :(
And regarding the headlice: yes I agree it is frustrating but what is the alternative? let them stay and spread them? I think it's a case of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". The child can return once treatment has commenced.