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jaykay79
02-04-2013, 01:38 PM
ohhhhh what a morning! one of my mindee's who nearly 2 catches bug after cold after bug after cold and seems to be constantly ill. his mum has had to take tonnes of time off work. at first she seemed to think he was catching all these things from here which annoyed me cos kids literally can pick things up anywhere and we go to that many mums and tots groups (1 every day!) that he's exposed to all sorts, and every time he's sick she asks is my dd sick or my other mindee ill and 9 times out of 10 tell her no they're not cos it is the truth! so anyway, today she turns up with a blatantly unwell child (you know when you only need to take one look at them to see they're ill) and asks to come in for a word and basically begs me in floods of tears to have him even though he is sick cos she has to go to work cos she's had soooo much time off, so i have agreed and now have a very unwell child here. i only said yes cos the baby i look after isn't here today so the only child i'm risking exposing is my own and cos i felt so damn sorry for her! but what am i gonna do tomorrow? when the baby is back? oh god what a mess, i should never have broke the rules and said yes should i cos now this will set a precedent, there is no way a nursery or school would have them like this, boo hoo what have i done :( ..... what would you have done??? and what should i do next??? x x

angeldelight
02-04-2013, 01:42 PM
I think we have all been in the same boat

I would be honest with her

Explain you have the baby back tomorrow so if her child is unwell then it's not fair to expose the baby .... Plus your time will be more limited and her child really needs to be with mom

Hopefully he will be feeling better tomorrow but if not then stay strong

Good luck

Angel xx

jackie 7
02-04-2013, 05:26 PM
I would have done the same but ask mother to give the child multivitamins as nhs says they should have.

Rick
02-04-2013, 05:31 PM
You probably need to say ASAP that you can't have LO if still ill because you will have another person's baby tomorrow and can't take the same risk. Maybe say wait and see how he is in the morning but likelihood is that he's still not going to be well. Apart from the actual potential bug-catching that the other children might be exposed to is how much time you have to spend nursing him. Will it impact on the amount of time you can spend with the others?

littlecheeks
02-04-2013, 06:07 PM
ohhhhh what a morning! one of my mindee's who nearly 2 catches bug after cold after bug after cold and seems to be constantly ill. his mum has had to take tonnes of time off work. at first she seemed to think he was catching all these things from here which annoyed me cos kids literally can pick things up anywhere and we go to that many mums and tots groups (1 every day!) that he's exposed to all sorts, and every time he's sick she asks is my dd sick or my other mindee ill and 9 times out of 10 tell her no they're not cos it is the truth! so anyway, today she turns up with a blatantly unwell child (you know when you only need to take one look at them to see they're ill) and asks to come in for a word and basically begs me in floods of tears to have him even though he is sick cos she has to go to work cos she's had soooo much time off, so i have agreed and now have a very unwell child here. i only said yes cos the baby i look after isn't here today so the only child i'm risking exposing is my own and cos i felt so damn sorry for her! but what am i gonna do tomorrow? when the baby is back? oh god what a mess, i should never have broke the rules and said yes should i cos now this will set a precedent, there is no way a nursery or school would have them like this, boo hoo what have i done :( ..... what would you have done??? and what should i do next??? x x

i suppose this would depend on what you class as 'ill'? it sounds as if you have had to refuse him coming several times? is that right?
i wont refuse for every cough and cold otherwise i would be forever doing it, but like i said it depends?
if a child was really ill then yes i would refuse them to attend, especailly if looking after other mindees./
how was mindee today? sick, temp ?

Ripeberry
02-04-2013, 06:32 PM
Unless the child is running a high temp, being sick or has a runny bottom. Then I can't see how you can refuse to have them in case another child catches a bug. Sounds like the mum needs to know her rights at work. :(

zippy
02-04-2013, 06:56 PM
Hard situation, good advice already been given, the only thing I would add is if she is at risk of losing her job so are you, although if he is really ill as in vomiting etc you really can't take him whilst other child is there.

Wheelybug
02-04-2013, 07:11 PM
I agree with the other comments. I often have children with runny noses, coughs, chest infections, teething (but don't get me started on teething!). Like the others, unless they have a high temp, diarrhoea, sickness, or something like chicken pox or conjunctivitis that is highly contagious then I don't tend to exclude.
I'd be worried that if mum lost her job then so would I.

Cathy
Pre-school Play (http://www.pre-schoolplay.blogspot.com)

merry
02-04-2013, 07:11 PM
Hard situation, good advice already been given, the only thing I would add is if she is at risk of losing her job so are you, although if he is really ill as in vomiting etc you really can't take him whilst other child is there.

This is very true, one of my former LO's was constantly ill, came down with everything going and really suffered every time. If I could possibly have them I did, even at times when they would really have been better off at home, as she was a single Mum, no financial support from child's father, but so often I couldn't take them, and she didn't want to leave them so poorly anyway. She did end up losing her job through having so much time off:(

Kiddleywinks
02-04-2013, 07:35 PM
As she has already accused you of being the 'instigator' of all her child's illnesses, you really will need to make it crystal clear to her that you only had her LO today because there were NO other minded children there and that you will be unable to have her LO again tomorrow if they're ill, otherwise I fear you will set a precedent that you would find extremely hard to get out of now that she has 'evidence' of you bending the rules...
Whilst today it suited her for you to do that, next week/month would be a different story...

Sadly, as Judge Judy says, no good deed goes unpunished :rolleyes:




PS No, you haven't been stupid, you're just having a learning curve to the benefit of your business :laughing:

Kirstylob
02-04-2013, 07:42 PM
I think it would depend on what the illness was. As others have said if I excluded for coughs and colds etc I would never see some of the children! As long as they weren't being sick or had a runny bum then I would probably take them. You don't say how old the child is. Would you be happy to let them veg out on the sofa with the TV on? Maybe you could all have a duvet day!
I think you need to let mum know ASAP if you aren't prepared to have the child tomorrow though.

jaykay79
02-04-2013, 07:46 PM
hey guys thanks for all your replies, you have mainly backed up what i thought i should do and yes, it is a sticky situation what with the her losing her job, me losing mine scenario which i was very mindful of this morning when i agreed to have him after her tearful outpouring... but yes, baby is back tomorrow so if he is as bad then i am going to have to get tough. in answer to who asked what sort of things he was ill with, he has not had vomiting or the runs on this occasion, just a really high temp and a red raw throat and a rash and generally feeling very sorry for himself, pitiful sight he was laying on the couch all day whimpering, laboured breathing etc :( ... he has had cold after cold but i'm not worried about that cos i would not exclude for anything as minor as that but just lately he's had norovirus twice, tonsillitis twice, chicken pox (a very bad case of), and a few random illnesses i don't really know what they were but that have floored him like today x