The Balancing Act: Parents, Daycare, and Managing childhood Illness
The issue of sending sick children to daycare is a persistent challenge for working parents in the Netherlands, particularly during flu season. Nanette, a mother of three from Dordrecht, exemplifies this struggle. while she acknowledges the importance of keeping truly unwell children home – “If thay are really sick and very hangry, and they would prefer to be with mom, dad or grandma, then of course I won’t bring them” – she admits to sometimes administering paracetamol to manage her children’s fever so they can attend daycare. She initially adhered strictly to daycare rules, “I didn’t do it with my first child, and I still based myself on the rules of daycare,” but found her children “function well” with the medication, allowing her to maintain her work schedule, which she cannot perform from home.
However,this practice is raising concerns among daycare providers. The trade association reports instances of parents giving paracetamol to a child with a fever at home without informing the daycare. This is problematic because paracetamol only masks symptoms and its effects wear off, perhaps leading to a call from daycare during the parent’s workday.
Childcare organizations are responding by reinforcing their illness policies. RTL Nieuws reported on a message from a South Holland daycare explicitly urging parents to disclose any paracetamol administration, emphasizing its importance for monitoring children and ensuring their safety. Generally, most childcare facilities advise keeping children home with a fever of 38 degrees Celsius or higher, and also those experiencing symptoms like vomiting. They frequently enough follow RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and the Habitat) guidelines for contagious diseases like chickenpox or hand-foot-mouth disease, sometimes allowing attendance even with a contagious illness if the child is no longer actively contagious based on symptom development.
Nanette understands the need for illness policies, stating, “I understand that they draw a line somewhere,” but acknowledges the difficulty of constantly cancelling work “for every runny nose” when reliant on daycare. Marjet Winsemius of the Foundation for Working Parents describes the situation as “the endless snot bubble discussion,” recognizing that while parents ideally want to care for sick children, practical limitations exist. With only 25 days of vacation annually, frequent absences for sick children are unsustainable.
Winsemius argues that employers need to be more involved in finding solutions, advocating for increased dialog between parents and their workplaces. Parents are entitled to short-term care leave (zorgverlof) when a child is sick, as outlined by the Dutch government.
