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A child care contract assures that there are no misunderstandings between you and your clients. It also protects you and your business from potential litigation. The contract states requirements and policies that both you and your clients must follow. A daycare contract form should include at least the following:

Hours of Operation: List the days and hours your child care center will be open for business.  Also detail any holidays you will be closed or any other days that the child day care center will be closed, if applicable.

Fees and Payments:  State the fees per week or month. Be explicit about whether or not sick days, holidays and vacation days are paid days. Some things to consider and disclose: When are weekly and month fees due? What are the consequences if fees are unpaid? (Termination? Suspension? ) How much will you charge for returned checks? How many returned checks will you allow before the client must pay in cash?

Arrival and Pick-Up Policies:  State your cut-off times for pick-up. Establish your late fees for late pickups. Also explain that only pre-authorized persons may pick up a child and that verbal and written permission must be received before a child may be picked up by an unauthorized person.

Illness Policies: Your contract should include a statement that explains when a child is too sick to attend daycare and how long the child must be symptom free before returning to daycare. Also detail your procedures for your course of action when a child becomes sick in daycare. You will also need to have a separate medical consent form in place. Also note what by time the parents must notify you if their child will not be attending daycare due to illness.

Withdrawal and Termination: What are the grounds for termination? What type and length of notice do you require for withdrawal from your daycare center? List that information in this section.

Damages: Sometimes children purposely break household items, toys, and other child care equipment. Who will pay for damages beyond the normal everyday wear and tear (when a child purposes to cause damages)? Your contract should be explicit about who will shoulder the burden of damages and repairs.

Toy Policies: Are children allowed to bring their own toys to your daycare center? What about other personal items of comfort like pillows or stuffed animals? State your policy here.

Potty Training and Diapering Policies:  In this section, detail whether or not you potty train and what your potty training philosophy might be. Do you supply diapers or pull-ups? Is there an extra fees associated with potty training? Do you allow cloth diapers?

Subsidies:  Does your childcare center participate in federal government programs that offer daycare subsidies? If so, state that any fees that are not covered by the subsidy are the parents’ responsibility and that fees are payable in advance on the first of day of the month.

The client (parent or guardian) and the childcare provider must sign and date the form.  Give a copy to the client and keep copy for yourself.

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Children can often get sick and when they need to stay at home and rest to prevent worsening conditions and from spreading the illness to other children. It is easy t determine if a child is physically sick if you provide them with proper care and attention. If a child tells you he or she is feeling sick or feeling something not good, it would be wise to take the necessary precaution and check what the child is feeling. Children unlike adults are fragile and will not be able to function properly in certain conditions as adults can.

However there are times when it is difficult to decide if the child is really sick or just having a low day. Some things to help you decide whether or not to let your child go to daycare or preschool are outlined by Dr. Leila M. Iravani, board certified doctor of pediatric and adolescent medicine at Coastal Kids Pediatric Medical Group in Newport Beach, California.

If a child is exhibiting these symptoms it would be advisable to parents to Keep the child at home.

• If a child is experiencing a fever greater than or equal to 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit

• Moderate Drainage meaning clear or discoloration of the eyes, ears, nose or mouth

• Red coloration to the whites of the eyes

• Skin rashes that have not been diagnosed by a medical doctor

• Severe abdominal pains , vomiting or diarrhea

Other symptoms that can tell you to let your child stay at home and not attend daycare or preschool is listed by Dr. Luis Rodriguez, Assistant Executive Director of Quality Improvement & Health Services at Episcopal Social Services.

• Reddening or the throat and pain despite lack of fever

• Deep hacking cough

• Wheezing and difficulty in breathing

• Having stiff neck and headaches with more than one of the above symptoms

• Yellowing of the eyes

• Cuts or skin opening s that contain pus or oozing

• Lice or nits

It is common sense to allow the child to stay home if you are aware that your child has a contagious disease. You do not want other children contracting the same illness and contribute to the spread of the illness.

One you have decided to keep your child from going to preschool or daycare, as a parent you should know when it would be alright for your child to come back to preschool or daycare. Dr. Rodriguez said: “To ensure the safety of children and staff, children and adults who have the following conditions will be excluded from the classroom until either the condition subsides, or there is documentation from that individual’s medical provider stating that they are no longer contagious”.

Dr. Iravani also advises that if there is any doubt in the child’s overall feeling, it would be better to be safe than sorry. If your child feels sick It is best to just have him or her stay at home.

As a daycare provider it is also one’s responsibility to check and asses each child’s medical condition as they join the daycare or preschool premises. Daycare providers can use the same criteria as a parent would use to determine if a child is fit to interact with other children or if there is a need for the child to go home and take a rest.

Daycare staff should watch the children’s level of activity to see if there are changes that would suggest something to be wrong. Often when a relatively active child becomes less active or withdrawn, it could signal that the child is becoming ill or that there is something wrong with the behavior. In cases like this it would be safe to take the child’s temperature and check for any kind of skin rash.

Child care providers must take every precaution to ensure the health of the child as if it were their own. Basic common sense would prevent major problems such as escalation of the child’s illness or spread to other children. It would be important to match you efforts with each child’s physicians. There must be a record kept of the children’s parents and doctor’s phone numbers in case of emergencies.

If you are looking for new daycares to put your child into, one of the factors that you need to look for is the kind of nutrition that the child care can provide your children while being under their care. You have to make sure that they abide by the regulations set forth by the United States Public Health Services Food Code. Some locations would even have stricter codes that the United States Codes and it would be good to check that their license is up to date and that they are posted.

As a parent you would want to make sure that they are getting the right food and not only that but also proper way of preparing the food. You need to see the overall cleanliness of the food preparation facilities. The place where your children will be eating and its sanitation is just as important as where the foods are made. If you are providing packed lunch for your children you must still check and consider food safety issues as to prevent your child from contracting any illness from the result of food. It is good practice to pack the foods for your children in air tight containers with a frozen cold pack in a thermal closed bag. This would help maintain the freshness of the food and prevent it from spoiling.

Making sure that your child gets the proper attention involves a lot of element. Every parents goal is to make sure that their child gets the proper nutrition and proper care when faced with illness. Avoidance is still the best solution. If you are not comfortable with what you see or feel about your child, it would be wise to follow your instincts and keep them home rather than take the risk of putting your child out there.

See: How to start a daycare center

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