Parents being funny about 48 hour rule - am I being too harsh?

[Picante]

Hi there,

Mindee was sick this afternoon while in my care, twice. Seemed quite ill i.e. not food poisoning - almost definitely a bug. Have explained to the parents that I can't take him back til Friday and they are making me feel very guilty (they are Polish and have a very high work ethic - they are very reluctant to take time off work).

I'm doing the right thing aren't I?

They were also funny with the fact I called them as soon as he was sick asking him to be picked up asap. They didn't seem to see that I wasn't prepared to look after a sick contagious child when I have two of my own plus another mindee.

I did say that any nursery or school would have the same policy.

Could I have handled it differently?

out of interest dmo, why do you exclude for conjunctivitis?
that used to be the case when my eldest was in nursery, but with my youngest there now the rules have changed and they accept them with conjunctivitis.
I thought this was a national guideline rule change, but maybe not?