Children's nurseries.

Also, I agree with @trisher, in the circumstances I've described above, from the time of the phone call until the parent arrive to remove said child, he/she WAS separated from the other children "for everyone's protection" and you were told that this was happening when you got the call (it was also referenced in the contract), so it made you get there as fast as possible... they're not stupid, they know that caring parents don't want their children segregated any longer than they have to be, this the nursery 'gets rid ASAP!

No, is the short answer and my UK grandchild (3 yrs old) has been at a nursery in London and is now in one in Liverpool. My other grandchild, also 3 yrs old lives in Berlin and also has not been sent home at any time.
Personally I think the OP's grandchild's nursery is overreacting

This is nothing new (Covid notwithstanding).
My son was at nursery 24yrs ago and went to 3 different nurseries over a 4yr period. All three were exactly the same, any cough, sniffle, slightly warm temperature, regardless of what the cause might have been and parents were called to "immediately" remove the child and not bring back until 2 days had elapsed 'after' the last sniff, cough etc.
You never got a refund for the days you weren't allowed to take your child back in and on the day you were called to remove your child the call always came before 11am, so they were guaranteed to be paid for 2.5days (minimum) without having to look after your child each time they did this.
Over the 4yrs my son was at nursery this happened to us no less than 35 times. I spoke to other parents and got the impression that they did this to at least 5 families EVERY WEEK, the problem was that there was nothing we could do about it because there was a clause in the contract stating that the nurseries could do this.
Basically, if a child was having a drink and was a little too quick drinking it and a little liquid 'went down the wrong way' and they coughed, you could guarantee that the parent would get a call to remove them for 2 days.
It appears that nurseries these days now have another excuse to send kids home. I'm glad there aren't any little ones in our family!

For all posters who find this policy inconvenient and even unnecessary:
If this is a burden for you, not being able to have a life as you cannot make plans, it is usually double or triple the burden for the parents, who have to worry about other siblings, work, possibly being infected, etc.

This is not about you, it is about the wellbeing of the whole community.

This is temporary and will pass.
When and if you think your adult children are not calling you enough, offering enough help, etc. - think of this thread.

If being a parent/child care is hard, it is 3x harder now - for you, the child, the parents, etc.

My granddaughter is in the junior school . In the 2nd term commencing October 2020 , she was sent home on 2 separate occasions as each time there was a corona suspect case in her class.
She was told to self isolate for 2 weeks each time. The school give a date when she could return. This meant she lost a whole month of schooling. Then came the early lockdown in December, and more school days lost. It was tough on the working parents and child.

Yes all three of my Grandchildren’s nurseries are exactly the same . It is a pain but they have to do this for the safety of the children - We are in a very bad situation and things have to be checked so it doesn’t get any worse !

Big coincidence that while I was reading this thread I had an email to tell me that a group of my ex’s family shared a family lunch last weekend, 5 sets of partners ages from 25 to 40, two of them key workers so long time twice jabbed, and two infants, one of whom, just over 1 year old and at nursery, had symptoms but test results not back. All 12 now tested positive and the youngest, a few months old, spent half the week in hospital.
It just isn’t true that infants and toddlers can’t catch and transmit Covid.

My 2 year old GD goes to nursery 2 times a week. This has been essential for socialising and other skills. She has a best friend who she is inseparable from and she absolutely loves her time there. We have her 1 day a week. We have caught 2 stonking colds from her which almost certainly came from the nursery. But I think the nursery recognise a head cold from covid although they did have a case just after Christmas and we stopped having her for a couple of months. We have now been jabbed twice so aren’t as concerned as we were but the future is unknown. It’s a very fine balancing act.

Better to be safe than sorry although I can understand your frustration. Nurseries have had a rough ride throughout lockdown and the last thing they need is to be shutdown if a child has COVID. They had a responsibility to all their children and their staff so they have to be super vigilant.

NotSpaghetti I completely agree. Nursery staff have no idea whether a cough is just a cough or a Covid cough. They couldn’t possibly know. So they’re doing the right thing by being extra cautious.

The nursery gc goes to has been amazing and the ladies have put their own health behind keeping things going.
I've been picking up the slack and my work as a domestic cleaner has had to come 2nd on occasion - boss has recently got peed off with me but because of covid trying to stop the spread and my own families need to keep going has had to come first. I haven't been able to go on occasion when they (boss) have had to take tests or been poorly with vaccinations so i see it both ways. But now they have had 2nd vaccine they think things are normal again.
They aren't still for many. So we just have to keep treading water and try to keep afloat.
I was grateful nurseries stayed open in January. I think they have managed quite well.
We may have to manage lives alongside covid for a long time nobody knows.
Maybe OP should say to her family she isn't available because she has plans. the nurseries hands are tied and they are doing there best in what seems to me to be hard work.

Midwifebi6 Do you realise there is a high possibiity if the child hasn't been collected after a phone call that the child will be separated from other children and kept in a room or area on his/her own, perhaps with just an adult observing? Personally I'd far rather collect a child than subject them to that.

I can imagine the outcry from many on this thread if they discovered a covid outbreak had spread because the nursery hadn't sent a coughing child home!!!

I don't have any grandchildren in nursery education but their Primary schools are just as strict and I agree with them. My youngest GD aged 6 is asthmatic. She had a normal cold recently and when she has a cold, it is always accompanied by a cough. She was not allowed to go to school and neither was her sister until she had shown a negative Covid test.

I agree it’s very frustrating but that’s COVID for you! In normal circumstances minor symptoms aren’t an issue but at the moment schools, nurseries and everywhere else for that matter are functioning under strict guidelines. It’s fine to ignore the rules if that’s what people consider appropriate - but what happens when it’s a real Covid infection which gets spread around and no one knows? Back to square one if we’re not all careful.

Exactly the same with my granddaughter, born in lockdown 12 months ago and started nursery 10 weeks ago. Absolutely loving it but she and most of the babies have had an almost constant cold, cough, chest infection and she is now suffering from a perforated eardrum. As all babies she hates the covid test, it is so awful to have to do it. All the babies have been so isolated they have no immunity so poor things are catching everything then passing onto parents and grandparents. I think the Nursery is trying very hard to manage difficult times fingerscrossed as we move into summer and we can get out more things will get better.

Cheap childcare is not something that anyone should think is a good idea.

This is just how it is, and I for one am glad. I have made it very clear to my daughter and sons that if the children are ill I won't be doing childcare. We have to look after ourselves as we get older. Children can have no symptoms of Covid and are rarely ill, but we as grandparents can be quite ill. Same testing and policies in schools from what I hear from my children and spouses. Be grateful that the nurseries are being stringent. I don't suppose the staff want Covid anymore than we do.

On the one hand one can say the nursery are being careful however on the one hand one could say they are being lazy and have their own agendas. Our own 3 children all went to a hospital nursery in the 70/80s in those days we paid £45 per child from 8 am until 1pm. Per week. As I was working permanently on night duty my husband would take them to nursery and I would collect them at 1 pm. Fast forward 25 years. We were taking our grandchildren to nursery £20 per hour Monday to Friday. I received phone calls asking me to collect one of our grandchildren because they “ keep sneezing” or have a cough or headache. I told the person in charge of the nursery if they cannot cope with children sneezing or coughing perhaps they should not be looking after young children who are going to do those things building up their immunity. She never phoned to collect the child again and all was fine.

Why are so many saying it's "over the top". No one knows what an individual child's cough or other symptom is regarding Coronavirus.

I would want to know that my child's/grandchild's nursery was responsible and cautious.

Young children do catch Covid. One 6 year old in my DGDs class caught it and now has damage to their heart. Child had no underlying health problems before was fit and healthy.

We used to rapid test my grandson twice weekly. However this was not enough when he was recently poorly. As he had a slight fever we had to take him for a PCR test as the school nursery would not recognise the negative result of the rapid lateral test. As this is invasive and really upsets him ( he has had 3 Pcr tests since December) we have decided not to carry on the rapid tests. Why should we when the results mean nothing? It really is annoying xx

CatNurse, I think it would be reasonable if you planned some things and told your daughter/son in law you wouldn't be available those days if he got sent home.

I agree it is over the top and unfortunately many nurseries seem to be the same. Fortunately our DGD's primary school don't panic at the sight of ordinary sniffles: people still have allergies and common colds.

Most nurseries have stayed open through covid, they are following government guidelines and if a child develops a temperature whether it be for a cold or teething etc.,they have to follow the guidelines, please don't blame the nurseries, this has been a very testing time with new things to take on board almost daily

Not the nurseries fault in a pandemic. Hopefully won't last for much longer. Imagine if they weren't so cautious and infections spread. This is a modern plague and a dangerous illness for many. Better safe than sorry.