Children can often get sick and when they need to stay at home and rest to prevent worsening conditions and from spreading the illness to other children. It is easy t determine if a child is physically sick if you provide them with proper care and attention. If a child tells you he or she is feeling sick or feeling something not good, it would be wise to take the necessary precaution and check what the child is feeling. Children unlike adults are fragile and will not be able to function properly in certain conditions as adults can.However there are times when it is difficult to decide if the child is really sick or just having a low day. Some things to help you decide whether or not to let your child go to daycare or preschool are outlined by Dr. Leila M. Iravani, board certified doctor of pediatric and adolescent medicine at Coastal Kids Pediatric Medical Group in Newport Beach, California.
If a child is exhibiting these symptoms it would be advisable to parents to Keep the child at home.
• If a child is experiencing a fever greater than or equal to 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit
• Moderate Drainage meaning clear or discoloration of the eyes, ears, nose or mouth
• Red coloration to the whites of the eyes
• Skin rashes that have not been diagnosed by a medical doctor
• Severe abdominal pains , vomiting or diarrhea
Other symptoms that can tell you to let your child stay at home and not attend daycare or preschool is listed by Dr. Luis Rodriguez, Assistant Executive Director of Quality Improvement & Health Services at Episcopal Social Services.
• Reddening or the throat and pain despite lack of fever
• Deep hacking cough
• Wheezing and difficulty in breathing
• Having stiff neck and headaches with more than one of the above symptoms
• Yellowing of the eyes
• Cuts or skin opening s that contain pus or oozing
• Lice or nits
It is common sense to allow the child to stay home if you are aware that your child has a contagious disease. You do not want other children contracting the same illness and contribute to the spread of the illness.
One you have decided to keep your child from going to preschool or daycare, as a parent you should know when it would be alright for your child to come back to preschool or daycare. Dr. Rodriguez said: “To ensure the safety of children and staff, children and adults who have the following conditions will be excluded from the classroom until either the condition subsides, or there is documentation from that individual’s medical provider stating that they are no longer contagious”.
Dr. Iravani also advises that if there is any doubt in the child’s overall feeling, it would be better to be safe than sorry. If your child feels sick It is best to just have him or her stay at home.
As a daycare provider it is also one’s responsibility to check and asses each child’s medical condition as they join the daycare or preschool premises. Daycare providers can use the same criteria as a parent would use to determine if a child is fit to interact with other children or if there is a need for the child to go home and take a rest.
Daycare staff should watch the children’s level of activity to see if there are changes that would suggest something to be wrong. Often when a relatively active child becomes less active or withdrawn, it could signal that the child is becoming ill or that there is something wrong with the behavior. In cases like this it would be safe to take the child’s temperature and check for any kind of skin rash.
Child care providers must take every precaution to ensure the health of the child as if it were their own. Basic common sense would prevent major problems such as escalation of the child’s illness or spread to other children. It would be important to match you efforts with each child’s physicians. There must be a record kept of the children’s parents and doctor’s phone numbers in case of emergencies.
If you are looking for new day cares to put your child into, one of the factors that you need to look for is the kind of nutrition that the child care can provide your children while being under their care. You have to make sure that they abide by the regulations set forth by the United States Public Health Services Food Code. Some locations would even have stricter codes that the United States Codes and it would be good to check that their license is up to date and that they are posted.
As a parent you would want to make sure that they are getting the right food and not only that but also proper way of preparing the food. You need to see the overall cleanliness of the food preparation facilities. The place where your children will be eating and its sanitation is just as important as where the foods are made. If you are providing packed lunch for your children you must still check and consider food safety issues as to prevent your child from contracting any illness from the result of food. It is good practice to pack the foods for your children in air tight containers with a frozen cold pack in a thermal closed bag. This would help maintain the freshness of the food and prevent it from spoiling.
Making sure that your child gets the proper attention involves a lot of element. Every parents goal is to make sure that their child gets the proper nutrition and proper care when faced with illness. Avoidance is still the best solution. If you are not comfortable with what you see or feel about your child, it would be wise to follow your instincts and keep them home rather than take the risk of putting your child out there.
For more info: How to start a day care
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