Illness policies at daycare
Hello fellow parents!
I'm not sure if I am looking for advice or commiseration, but I'm becoming quite discouraged with illness policies at my child's daycare. My 11 month old has frequently been sent home with congestion/runny nose, and the daycare's policy is that children must be symptom free for 72 hours (and covid tested negative) before return. This puts any "sick day" as a three day stretch. My son was sent home this week for a runny nose only--no fever, cough, etc. and has been out for three days and covid tested because of this. I have spoken with the director and the policy will not budge. I am an ICU nurse who works night shift so I use daycare so I can sleep between my shifts, so WFH is not an option.
Wondering if this is typical and if other parents have had similar experiences with their childcare providers. I fully understand and support protecting unvaccinated children, but this seems excessive and disruptive. Any thoughts or feedback? Thank you!
Parent Replies
My grandsons preschool has the same policy.It seems I end up watching him a third of the time because he often has a runny nose.I am glad I am retired and able to do it.It is much harder being a parent now and you have my compete sympathy.
My daughters preschool has a policy that children cannot come to school with a runny nose. In February, she's had a runny nose for two weeks, went back to school for a week and it's now home again. We frequently test her for covid during this time, but she's still not about to go back. Its been incredibly difficult and I've talked to many friends with children of a similar age about how their schools handle it - most friends I've heard from have a test to return policy. I decided this past week to move her to a school with more flexibility about this. Its just been too difficult.
Compared with the four or so other daycares in Berkeley who's policies I am familiar with, 72 hours out after a runny nose (or any actual illness) is a highly unusual policy, even during Covid. I am likely at your same daycare and am in a constant state of stress over my kid getting sent home for a runny nose on top of actual illness and Covid cases in the class. The extra 72 hours out (now 48, as of this week) is also a contributing factor. My child is out a lot and rarely for actually being sick. I find it immensely frustrating and have every intention of moving my child to a different center with a less oppressive policy that leads to constant absences once I can.
One point of frustration that I have with this policy - we get all these messages that it's working and keeping the community safe, thus it stays. They have had just as many covid cases as any other daycare I am familiar with (per capita), if not more. The only difference is our kids are kept out of care for arbitrary reasons. I appreciate that the caregivers are doing a job under difficult circumstances and really value the work they do. But the "illness" policy is designed as though people have their kids there for fun and not because they have to work. I have major sympathy for people like yourself who cannot work from home as that is the only way I am remotely able to deal, and I am still struggling.
That sounds very unrealistic for any working parent. Our daycare originally sent kids home with runny noses but now we rapid test our kids weekly. Also, in the fall literally everyone had a runny nose and the owner was very understanding that it was normal and wasn’t covid so she let everyone come to school. This week, my son has a tiny cough and is a little stuffed up but his covid test was negative so I sent him to school and he hasn’t been sent home yet. Since we have testing available now, I think it’s totally reasonable to send kids with runny noses to school again. I can’t have my kids home every time they have something that’s not a fever, etc.
I believe the CA licensing board has recommendations for what reasons kids should be sent home. We've been at a couple daycares and both policies were to send kids home with fever of 100.4 or higher. And they cannot return until 24 hours with no fever. Neither place cared about runny noses. There are new Covid specific policies, but I don't think runny noses alone are on the reasons to send kids home.
I'm not sure if this is 'normal' but it is certainly illogical, unfair to working parents, and not universal (mine doesn't do it, but I interviewed others that had a similar policy). I appreciate that finding new childcare is hard, but if this is truly a deal-breaker for you, start looking for a daycare with a 'normal' sick policy (24 hours no fever). If you vote with your feet, make sure the director knows your reason. Daycares with policies that are impossible for working parents are not actually daycares.
My child's daycare does not have this rule. In fact, I have sent my daughter with a runny nose and cough and she was not sent home. We did, however, covid test her to make sure she did not have covid, but the daycare did not require it. Colds are a way of life for kids in childcare and I cannot imagine at this point in the pandemic for schools to have these rules still in place. We do pay a little more for our daycare (Kidsland), but I am thankful for the stability.
One of the preschools we are looking into has the same rules as yours. With any symptoms, children will be asked to stay home and be tested before returning to school. As a working parent and only 5 days of sick leave a year, I cannot afford to stay home either. We will think very carefully before we make a decision to enroll our daughter into the preschool. With the downward trending of covid cases, and vaccination for young kids hopefully available by this summer, I am holding onto hope that masking rules and such will go away very soon.
I pulled our son from a daycare with an unreasonable sick policy (like the one you are describing). I am a MD and it drove me nearly nuts when they would send him home with a runny nose but no fever, no other symptoms, eating and drinking and playing completely normally and say "feel better." Children in daycare get on average 8-12 colds a year. It was stressful to find a new daycare at the time but we are all so much happier and even healthier after the switch.