Wondering if I did the right thing - dayare situation (long)

Chattsgirl

Hi Girls,

So this morning I dropped DS off as usual, and on my way out I saw another mom who has twin's in DS's class. I just made small talk and asked how she was doing and she said she was exhausted b/c one of the twins was in the ER all night (until 3 AM) last night. I asked what happened and she told me that her daughter was throwing up in the evening (after pick up yesterday) non-stop, so they took her to the ER late last night. She was diagnosed with an ear infection (not sure how you would come to that conclusion when she's throwing up?!?) and gave her fluids and sent them home last night around 3 AM.

 So then I was like "oh poor thing, she's at home right?" and the mom is like "no, she's here, she started her 1st dose antibiotics this morning." In my head, I was like "seriously, are you kidding me? your kid was in the ER until 3 and you're bringing her to daycare?" The mom looked exhausted and was wearing jeans and sneakers (usually she is dressed in business attire). So that was even more fishy to me, b/c clearly she wasn't dressed for work (and it was already  9 AM at this point).

So I get in my car and contemplate on what to do. I had a few meetings in the morning until noon and then ran out to run errands during lunch. I decided stop by the center (it's 2 mins from work) to talk to the center director about what the mom told me. It turns out that the mom had told us different stories. The policy at daycare is if your child has diarrhea, is vomiting, has a temp higher than a certain degree, (and a few others, but these are the main ones), then they have to be symptom-free for 24 hours before coming back to the center. She told the director the ER story but conveneintly left out the part about why she went to the ER in the first place (the vomiting). 

The director (who I love and runs the center very well) asked for a note to be faxed in the morning (prior to me coming in and talking to her). The note just said what the the diagnosis was and that she was on antibiotics and allowed to return to daycare.The director is in a tough spot b/c she knows the real story now,and according to the policy the child wouldn't be able to return to the center today b/c it hadn't been 24 hours yet. But she can't do anything about it b/c the mom didn't tell her and a note from the ER was faxed to the center.

I'm upset b/c I don't feel that the mom is being responsible and ethical. If that was my child, he would 100% be home today and being cuddled and held all day, getting extra TLC. The ER experience is pretty traumatic for a young child, and I just couldn't believe that she would bring her kids to daycare the next day... I understand that not everyone has the easiest alternate child care set-ups, but she was in jeans and sneakers which led me to believe she wasn't going to work (again just speculating). Even so, an effort should have been made to keep the child at home.

 This also isn't the first time time I have had to say something to the center director about this mom and her kids - over the winter she brought them in mutliple times where they were congested, sniffly, etc but didn't have a fever so technically they couldn't be sent home. I understand the policies but at some point you have to also make an ethical decision and keep your kids home if they are really that congested or sniffly or just don't look right. . .

 If DS gets sick, I am going to be livid. . . . I am praying that he doesn't.

 Just wanted to hear your guys thoughts. . .