Adam Kleiner

Last week I read news reports on a study about kids and the inevitable germ bath they hop into when starting daycare.

Three weeks ago I read reports from a team of hospital physicians and nurses caring for my kid, who only two days earlier had started daycare.

The boy is fine, now. The fever and fire-hydrant-style spewing have abated, and he has returned to the scene of the infestation.

But I am wary.

Why should a kiddie play place be so toxic that two days on the mats can lead to twice as many days on IV fluids?

News of the study doesn’t address that particular question. (It essentially says suck it up, parents; not only will your kids will be sick, sooner or later, but it’s good for them.) But I figured the director of my boy’s daycare program should.

Maybe it’s all a case for home schooling.

We were told to expect runny noses, coughing and other symptoms straight through the first four months of daycare. Can you confirm that’s the typical experience?
Yes, it is quite typically for children to have runny noses and colds at the beginning of their childcare career. Often it lasts for the first couple of months and seems to get better after a child’s first birthday for most.

Does a day go by this time of year that no kid in the program gets called in sick?
I can’t say that there is a day that none of the children are sick but in an individual classroom there are many days in which all the children are present in school, particularly over summer months.

What beyond keeping sick kids at home does your staff do to prevent the spread of germs?
The staff sanitize the classroom each day (and throughout the day) including cleaning toys, wiping mats, vacuuming, washing sheets, bibs, etc. All is done with child safe cleaning materials.

Do the kids who interact more with others more often get sick than the wallflowers?
I have not seen a correlation with children’s personalities and the amount of time being sick. The factors we typically see are the age which a child starts the program, amount of time in childcare, and if they have older siblings at home (can both introduce new germs as well as help with immunities) as well as of course, a child’s natural immunities. There are some children who have very rarely been sick and those who seem to catch everything.

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