Childcare centres are making our kids sicker

Warnings of inadequate health rules and parents plying their children with Nurofen and Panadol to mask their child’s illnesses are taking their toll on childcare centres.

Experts are now looking for the government to create one uniform rule for all daycares in terms of how and when children are sent home when they are ill to reduce the spread of infectious diseases.

At present, some centres call parents the moment their child begins to show symptoms and encourage them to come by and collect them. 

If an hour goes by and the child has a fever, the centre staff have the option of calling an ambulance.

Other institutions will offer pain relief in the form of cough syrup to kids while others strictly adhere to prescribed medications only.

‘Childcare centres are hothouses for spreading viral and bacterial infection,’ Health Minister Brad Hazzard told The Saturday Telegraph.

Part of the issue stems from parents masking their child’s illness with the help of Nurofen and Panadal so they can go to work only to hear the child’s condition has deteriorated later in the day while they’re away.

‘Childcare centres are hothouses for spreading viral and bacterial infection,’ Health Minister Brad Hazzard told The Saturday Telegraph

In this instance experts like the University of Sydney’s Robert Booy suggest all children should be kept at home to rest before being integrated back into the classroom.

Particularly given children are often clumsier about hygienic practices and are more infectious than adults.

‘There are guidelines in place for parents but with the pressures of two-working parent families and mortgages sometimes parents convince themselves that it’s okay for their sick child to go to kindy or preschool — it really isn’t,’ he continued.

Most children are now taught to cough into their elbow and to open bins using the foot pedal, rather than use their hands, but more needs to be done to stop the spread of illness once it hits.