As my daughter is only 7-months old, and I am not familiar enough with what is "normal" with regards to daycare. Can someone answer me a few questions:
1. Is it normal for daycare NOT to be able to administer medicines such as tylenol or anti-biotics to your children? Or does it depend on the school? They don't have a nurse on staff, they have one available if needed, just not on staff at the location. But I would think something like Tylenol would be OK and a no-brainer?
2. Just recently, the daycare we attend is switching to paying tuition Monthly, rather than weekly. Is this something that other daycares are going to or already do? It just seems like they are asking a LOT from the parents to pay monthly...am I seeing that wrong?
Thanks for your help. It is always nice to hear what other parents are experiencing and to see if your world is "normal" or if some changes need to occur.
Thanks everyone for your feedback.
I beleive, since the daycare we go to is a smaller, privately owned facility, they choose not to discriminate against what they can/cannot administer, even with a permission form. I thought that was a bit odd, but I guess it is their choice. I just wondered how other schools handled it. Is it something I would that would cause me to go seek out another daycare, probably not.
As for the monthly vs weekly pay. Again, it sounds like it depends. I think it would be nice, however, if they gave us a choice and a price break if we decided to choose monthly. We have until September for this to fully take effect. Probably because they are a small private school, they can make changes like this.
Thanks again. I am glad I have a forum I can go to and ask questions!!
L.
I know you wrote this a long time ago but my son's daycare will not administer meds without a Dr note.
We also pay monthly for tuition.
Hi L.,
To answer your questions...
1. To not give Tylenol is normal in my experiences with daycare. The thinking behind that is that if there is a fever...the children should be home. It just stinks when YOU (as Mom) knows that the fever is truly due to teething and not an illness. But, for the safety of other kids, it makes sense. As for anti-biotics, our son just finished a 10 day dose that was 3x a day. He needed a dose at daycare. I had to bring the prescription medicine in and fill out and sign a form and the director had to give the meds and log the time/dosage for us. We go to KinderCare, and I think they are pretty strict with the rules. Talk to the director and see what your options are or pull out your handbook.
2. We pay weekly at our center. BUT, we did look at another center Bright Horizon's (we were considering selling our house and moving) and they did monthly. Anyway, I guess it depends on if you are still getting credit for vacations and such. Is the weekly rate going up? Personally, I'd rather pay monthly and not have to remember to do it every darn week.
I work in a childcare facility and yes, they will administer Tylenol and antibiotics. You need to have a dr. note for any prescription med. and possibly over the counter. My son also attends the same facility I work at and I had to fill out a consent form for diaper cream. Its for the child as well as for the facility's wellbeing. Licensing requires that all meds. and creams (sunblock, lotion etc.) have a consent form filled out. We don't have a nurse on staff but our Director and Owner (who are both there every day) are able to administer all meds.
As for paying monthly, that is how our center does it. I'm sure if you talked to them you can possibly do a payment plan. Worth asking.
Good luck. Let me know if you have any other questions that I may be able to help you with.
K.
hey L.... mt son is 8 months and at his daycare they can give meds as long as there is a dr's note.... and for me my daycare still letsd u pay weekly but i do know many dahycares have you pay monthly which i think is not good makes it that much rougher on us parents!
It seems that with the uprise in overdosing of medications that many schools/daycares aren't administering any. My daycare will only give my kids Tylenol if it is specifically for teething and I have an MD note. They will not give anything else. As far as tuition goes, I've had both weekly and monthly bills. Currently we are billed monthly which has both advantages and disadvantages. If you miss days or have holidays factored in, often they aren't deducted from your bill with monthly charges. On the other hand, there are some months with 4 week and some with 5 so overall I think things tend to break out even. Hope this helps a little.
L.-
I am a lic daycare home and it is DCFS policy that i can not administer medicine whether it is OTC or prescribed without written permission from the parents. For OTC the parents sign a form (that DCFS provides) giving me written authorization to administer per parents written requests. Same with prescription meds. There is a written authorization (per DCFS) that parents have to sign. HOWEVER (dont mean to shout)eventho' i have the written authorizations for OTC.. I will not just give a child any OTC unless i talk to the parents first i.e. fevers, colds, etc. There is a form that parents fill out when they bring the meds so i know what dosages to give and when.. I log when i give the meds and initial it. When DCFS drops in to say hello, they look over all med sheets on the children. So it is proper protocol. As far as payment schedule, I have not heard of any providers requesting only monthly payments. I go by weekly, biweekly to the parents paycheck schedule. I hope this helps. S.
Our daughter, 4 as of December, goes to pre-school three days a week, for 2 and a half hours. There is no nurse on staff there and they ask that if your child has a temperature or just isn't acting like themselves, don't bring them.
Also, her tuition is monthly there.
Best wishes!
We had to have a doctor's note for any meds (even OTC) that the daycare staff has to give.....we paid every two weeks but we could also pay at the first of the month if we wanted....
Hi L., I am a licensed home child care provider. I have been a provider since 1996. The only rules that DCFS have is that you complete a (DCFS) form which is provided by dyacare and you must specifically write and sign how much (non-Prescription) medication to give. With prescriptions it is easy as long as the dosage information and times to give are spelled out. If medication is given without this permission and that child have a negative reaction to it, the parent could hold the child care provider liable. If a child is in my care and they spark a dangerously high temp., I must give them Tylenol immediately, that is why the permission slip is so important.
P., child care provider since 1996
By law schools, daycare centers, etc... are not allowed to administer any medication without a signed permission slip from the parents and/or doctor.
As far as tuition every center or provider is different. Some require weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly payments.
I believe that DCFS regulations state that you must have a doctors note stating the reason and the dosage for any medication to be given at the center. Once a month does seem like a strange way to pay!! We pay bi-weekly, would your center accept bi weekly payments if you wanted to do it that way??
It can't be normal not to give antibiotics - I know my kids have been on antibiotics that require a midday dose and last for 14 days. It does seem normal to me to require that the medicine be provided in the prescription container and with exact instructions. My DCPs have been reluctant to give tylenol, though - I think the logic is that if a child has a fever or pain, they should be at home. Although in an emergency (fever rising, me not able to get there immediately) I have been able to give permission by phone for them to give one dose until I could pick up my child.
I have to give permission in writing every day that I wish medication to be administered. I would find it unacceptable if they would not give meds even with written permission. Many meds need to be given during the hours a child is in daycare.
I pay weekly too. I can't say if it's not normal for them to charge monthly, but do agree that it is a lot of money to have to put up front.
We pay daycare weekly. My daycare will not administer tylenol/motrin without a note from the dr., ad for the antibiotics, they make me fill out a form with the perscription giving them autorization to administer.
