Stop complaining that I am making your child sick

amother

Tue, Jan 20 2015, 7:44 pm

Maybe I should post in the Teacher's forum but this fits too. Anon because some parents of my students may be on here.
Hey moms (and dads)! Please stop complaining that your child is getting sick in my preschool room. Stop telling me your child comes each day healthy, that nothing is wrong at home, when 5 minutes later we are wiping the child's nose and ducking his/her cough. We wash, we bleach, we wipe noses, we wash hands -- all day long. But we cannot catch the child who puts something in a mouth and it is taken by another child who also puts it in a mouth (possibly even another child's mouth). We cannot block the child who sneezes and coughs on the other children's food. We cannot always catch the child who knows to blow her nose but then puts the tissue back in the tissue box which someone else then touches. We wash the children's hands at least 5 times in a four hour time frame (that does not include after diapering and nose wiping) and we wash our hands even more times. I understand that a sniffle or clear runny nose should not keep a child home from school but please do not think I am foolish enough to think that thick, gross mucus is "nothing". I understand the need to send children to school when "it does not seem too bad" but do not then complain that WE are making the children sick.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Jan 20 2015, 7:57 pm

Agreed! Parents should realize that when you put all these little ~~petri dishes~~ children together, germs will proliferate and get passed around.

Tell the parents that you're working on building stronger immune systems for everyone, and building up immunity for the future. Wink

mummiedearest

Tue, Jan 20 2015, 8:29 pm

op, it sounds like you're on top of things. we should all be so lucky to have teachers like you. and to those preschool teachers who insist that the kids are "old enough to wash hands without a reminder" after using the bathroom, I vote op send all the irate parents your way.