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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

just need to moan

58 replies

franyfroo · 04/02/2008 10:21

why do parents send their children to me when they are very obviously unwell. I have just got over that flu bug, had it since xmas (never felt sooooo ill) and now they are sending me more sicky children. I know you cant avoid colds but when the children just cry all day, its not fair to the other children.

why do parents just feel they can pay me when they like. I even charge 20 for late ones but they still pay late.

am fed up......but feel bit better after my rant.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

nannyL · 04/02/2008 10:51

why not just call them and tell them to come and collect their sick children immediatly

Twinkie1 · 04/02/2008 10:56

This is why I send DS to nursery and not a childminder!

nannyL · 04/02/2008 10:58

why does a nursry help?

surely they are even stricter about not taking sick children?

nortynamechanger · 04/02/2008 11:04

Yes, I can't understand why sending them to nursery ill is any more acceptable that sending them to a CM?

My DS is off again this week (two whole weeks since Jan) with a horrid cold/cough on more steriods than ever to keep his o2 levels up.

I am fed up with seeing quite obviously unwell children, with streams of green snot on their top lips, hacking coughs, red watery eyes and red cheeks being dropped off without a backward glance.

aGalChangedHerName · 04/02/2008 11:05

Why do you send your ds to a nursery?? Don't quite get that.

Twinkie1 · 04/02/2008 11:06

They take DS if he has a cold and is whigey though and I don't think they moan about it - last time he was sick he had tonsilitus and I kept him home but the time before that he had a bad cold and I had a meeting to go to and asked them if he was ok to go for a few hours - they were fine with it and said they couldn't stop him coming if he was whingey and snotty - he was fine once he got there just needed a few more cuddles than usual and there are more helpers there to take the brunt of his whingeyness - I would hate for someone to be cross with me or DS because he had a cold and wasn't his normal self!

Twinkie1 · 04/02/2008 11:08

Above all though I don't send him when he is obviously sick but he goes when he has a snotty nose or a cough unless it is giving him a temperature but I would hate for someone to come on here and whinge about me or DS.

aGalChangedHerName · 04/02/2008 11:09

I have worked in nurseries and although they may have said to ytour face that it was fine i'm sure they would have had a moan anyway.

I have no problem taking a child with a cold but if they want to lie on the couch all day crying and whinging then they should be at home.

I have nursery and school runs as do most cm's. It's not fair to expect very ill child to be dragged around all day when they are ill is it?

pol27 · 04/02/2008 11:10

I am so glad i've stopped minding!

When I minded I had one major offender who used to send her boy to me when he was v.ill. In the end I felt like I was checking him on the doorstep!

I hate it when my kids are ill, i'm not to great as a nurse maid ... so why do I want to nurse anyone else's sick kiddo's??

georgedontdothat · 04/02/2008 11:10

Children get colds and if they were kept at home every time they had a snotty nose then you probably wouldn't have much work TBH.

aGalChangedHerName · 04/02/2008 11:11

It is also not fair for one child to get all the cuddles and all the attention either. I have had to pretty much ignore all the children except the sick one. Are you happy that if sick dc come to your childs nursery they will give all the time and attention to 1 child and ignore the rest?

pol27 · 04/02/2008 11:13

I wouldn't of taken a child who clearly had a cold (I don't mean just a snotty nose). A cold caused my DS to get croup and be rushed to A&E and stopped breathing. Not nice.

aGalChangedHerName · 04/02/2008 11:15

Hey pol wish i could win the lottery and give up too!!

This job is the pits sometimes eh?

georgedontdothat · 04/02/2008 11:15

So if you had a cold would you send all the mindees home ?

stealthsquiggle · 04/02/2008 11:18

Norty - I can entirely sympathise if your DS struggles to cope but if I didn't take DD to nursery when she had at least one of "green snot on their top lips, hacking coughs, red watery eyes and red cheeks" she would never go and I wouldn't have a job - she almost always has a cold to some degree and has red cheeks whenever she is teething (more often than not). If she is feeling really sorry for herself clearly I will keep her at home and she was home for a whole week when she had sickness bug (for about 36 hours, the rest of the week was me keeping her out for the required 48 hours).

aGalChangedHerName · 04/02/2008 11:21

If a child can do the normal routine i have no problen whatsoever taking tem.

I think what the op is saying is that very unwell dc should be kept off.

It is hard looking after 3 under 5's plus after schoolies poss when 1 dc is really very ill.

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 04/02/2008 11:21

Pol you can't blame the person who gave your child the cold that caused him to get croup (and go to hospital) nor can you keep all children in/at home when they have a cold!

It's about common sense isn't it? A cold doesn't not usually = being ill. If you child IS ill (with a temperature/too poorly to play/is throwing up/has a bad stomach/is in pain, ie a lot different from having just a cold) then you keep him home.

But it is not uncommon for a young child to have 9-10 colds per year.. you can't keep them home/off nursery with each and every of those.

It's a hard look out for those parents whose children are immuno-surpressed - I've been there because I DS had CF and I hated him to catch colds when he was a toddler.. but I couldn't expect everybody to keep their snotty children away from him all the time.

It's about being reasonable and engaging common sense. Children with colds are not, as a rule, ill and therefore should not be expected to kept in and away from other people.

Original poster

franyfroo · 04/02/2008 11:22

point been missed by the non childminders yet again.

i thought i could have a moan on here to my fellow childminders!

most nurseries are even stricter than minders, and they have the same policies. Cold and coughs are one thing, but temps and constant snot everywhere is another.

OP posts:

georgedontdothat · 04/02/2008 11:24

Actually most nurseries are not at all strict about colds they have common sense

Twinkie1 · 04/02/2008 11:24

At nursery there is more than one minder so DS wouldn't be left out if a child needed lots of cuddles - it just seems as though childminders want perfect healthy children without the snot and the whining which is just not normal with little kids!

Surr3ymummy · 04/02/2008 11:24

I think it's sometimes hard to tell if a child has just got a cold, or is actually ill - especially if there's a few DCs to get out in the morning. I would tend to send a child to the childminder(or school) if it was borderline in the hope that the company of other children would help DC perk up. I would expect the childminder/school to notify me if they thought DC was ill, and I would have a plan in place to either collect him myself or have someone else collect him. I would be upset if my child really was ill and no-one told me..

stealthsquiggle · 04/02/2008 11:25

Sorry - go back to your (rightful) CM moan - and I agree nurseries are generally more strict, not less.

If they are too ill to go out / generally join in with routine, you would (IMH(nonCM)O) be more than justified in sending them home. And as a parent I would be at having sent them in the first place.

ConnorTraceptive · 04/02/2008 11:25

I'm not a childminder but I totally see your point. If a child needs extra cuddles isn't himself then they are ILL and should be at home.

Twinkie1 · 04/02/2008 11:47

Sorry obviously not welcome as not a childminder!!

My nursery is great actually they do have commons sense and as long as the kid just has a cold and not a temperature they are fine and just give him extra cuddles and quiet time reading!

crace · 04/02/2008 12:10

Oh my good gracious, not yet another nursery vs childminder thread. Me thinks this is more of a guilt thing Also sick children who need to stay in the setting are holding other children back if there are places to go to - so everyone misses out.

ANYWAY.....

Franny, you have my deepest sympathy, I felt this way last week. Sometimes kids just need their parents, and despite all the lovely cuddles we give them it's their parents they need.

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