+1 Frankly, even blue surgical masks helps to lessen the microbial load. I would add - become a "no shoes indoors" household like many Asian households. And also get flu shots for your school going kids in August instead of October. You want them to be protected against flu primarily from September to February. |
| We are an Asian household and my husband thought he would outsmart the endless colds by wearing a mask indoors. Then our daughter coughs in your face and you can feel the literal spittle land in your eyes. There's only so much you can do. |
I had to do a double take bc I thought I had posted this response. Same. We masked and we all still got sick. 10 days later. Still sick. |
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Does the daycare smell clean each morning when you arrive?
At our first, it seemed like kids were sick on a cycle every 2-3 weeks. They'd get over it just in time to catch something else or another variation. I started viewing the cameras more. The kids weren't required to wash their hands before snack or lunch. It appeared hands were only cleaned after the potty-trained ones went to the bathroom. I saw teachers doing wipes on tables and chairs but never toys. I started paying more attention each morning when I dropped off. This was a very reputable facility, too. We did tours of a few others that had been on our list and immediately smelled the cleanliness when we walked into one facility. I asked about their cleaning procedures and was shown how toys were disinfected throughout the day and each evening. Stuffed animals weren't allowed there at all and blankies/lovies could only be held during naptime. Kids washed their hands before snacks and meals and throughout the day. That was a big one for me!! We switched and it drastically improved how often the kids got sick. It went from a few times a month to maybe once or twice every 2-3 months. |
This made me laugh. I was trying to care for my sick 11 month old this morning and he took his entire snotty face and planted it onto my mouth (for a kiss). It was very sweet, disgusting and just classic. Might as well put my sick leave now |
Yup, you can either take care of your little or avoid sickness. Never both. |
we can all acknowledge that childcare is needed (yes i work full time) and also acknowledge that repeated viral infections aren't helpful to anyone and actually bad long term. we should instead be advocating for better ventilation, better sick leave policies so parents don't have to send their kids back while sick (and then create the spread which means kids are sick 90% of the time), and masks... or we can just lie and say it's secretly good to be sick all the time |