So, this morning as I approached my classroom door and went to grab my keys to unlock the door; a blaringly pink piece of paper lovingly taped to my door appeared. What to my wondering eyes did appear? A note from one my student's parents relaying to me that their child had diarrhea over the weekend, that it was still hanging around but that it was better and had downsized to a phrase I will spare you for your stomach's sake. Ugh...great! Happy Monday to me! I get to start the day with a sick kid that shouldn't be at school. My mind quickly went to judgement on the parent's side..."why would they send their son to school with stomach ailments that weren't cleared up yet?" "Any sensible parent would keep their child home until symptoms have passed for 24 hours...duh" Hence, my mood did not dictate my normal peppy, smiley, sweet attitude. To make a long story short, guilt took over and I put myself in these parent's shoes for a second. Maybe they had an important meeting at work that they just couldn't miss, maybe there was or rather, CERTAINLY, there must be a logical excuse for sending your sick child to school. Okay, Sarah, take a deep breath, sanitize your entire classroom, speak to your kids and remind them of all of the right hand-washing procedures and follow them all around making sure no one mouths anything they shouldn't....Are you serious???" Then I smacked myself back into reality when at 9am this morning I was cleaning up this poor kid's diarrhea and trying to calm him down.
Here it is in a nutshell....I want to know what your sick policies are where you are and how you best communicate with your parents about the spread of illnesses in the early childhood education center and how you can best prevent the spread of the flu and other bugs. Then shoot over to my "Expert Advice" column about what the American Academy of Pediatrics says about illness in young children.
Properly communicating with your parents about your sick policies and the prevention of illness by proper hand-washing and exposure is the only way to go. You may feel guilty for a second for enforcing your policies but, at the end of the day it is more important to prevent the spread of illness between your students and yourself!
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