Your Child is Sick

Do you cringe when you get that “your child is sick” phone call? We cringe a little too when we make it. We know it affects your work and when you tell your boss you are, at the very least, likely to get that “look” of frustration and, at worst, your boss becomes _________. (Your choice)

Through the years of teaching young children, I sometimes get asked “why is my child getting sick?”.                                                                                                  Here are just a few of the reasons why:

Small children explore everything with all their senses including the sense of...                                                                   touch:  You have probably experienced this at the store when you find a few extra items in your shopping cart or at grandma’s house when you leap over a coffee table to grab that eighteenth century vase. It is also the reason your breakables are on a top shelf, and it takes an engineer to open the cabinets in your home. taste:                                                                                                                            

1. Hand in mouth…hand on toy…hand in mouth… toy in mouth              

2. Takes off shoe… shares with a friend…tastes friend’s shoe                                          

3. Toy on floor…toy in mouth (20 second rule?)                                                                 

4. Finds…________touches…___________tastes…_____                                     

They touch and taste everything with only a few, good for you, foods as exceptions.                                                                                                                

Sharing: One of the few things young children share, more easily than anything else, are those dreaded childhood germs. They cough, they sneeze, their noses run, and they breathe close to their friends. What we do: We clean hands, noses, and surfaces.  We take a toy that has been “tasted” when it is dropped and put it in our sanitation bucket. We sanitize all the toys at the end of each day. We give your child the same cot throughout the time they are in the class and sheets and cots are cleaned weekly unless a child becomes ill and then they are cleaned more often.           And… We cringe when your child meets any of the state regulations for sending them home sick, and we make that dreaded phone call. What you can do:  Remember that your child is still building their immune system and unfortunately getting sick is one of the ways they do that. Most important know that it gets better.