If you’re a parent with a young child in child care, chances are
you’ve had a call to pick up your child due to some type of
illness. Nearly 11 million children under age 6 are in some type
of child care every week. As every parent knows, colds happen.
Other illnesses happen too, but recognizing when a child should
be excluded from child care and when it’s okay for them to stay
in group care, varies by state and by program. A study published
in Pediatrics Magazine in May, “Unnecessary Child Care
Exclusions in a State That Endorses National Exclusion
Guidelines” found that child care center directors would exclude
nearly 60 percent of children with mild illnesses – although
guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the
American Public Health Association (APHA) would not warrant
their exclusion. Directors with greater child care experience
made fewer unnecessary exclusion decisions. The authors of the
study recommended that child care center directors have initial
and ongoing training regarding