I need some thoughts here. My toddler goes to a daycare center. They have rigid COVID policies that have children with any symptoms out for 10 days (fairly standard).

My kiddo started with a runny nose on Oct 2. They said it was fine for her to go; everyone gets a runny nose, etc. Okay. Then they told me on Oct 7 that on the 6th she was coughing. This was at AM drop off. I asked if she could stay, and the teacher accused me of drugging her her so that she could be at school. (Uhm, I hadn't done so.) That day they sent her home with COVID papers in her backpack (health department print outs with flowcharts, etc). No one said anything. I assumed they were telling me she couldn't come so I kept her home for the rest of the week. They contacted me and said that since it wasn't COVID symotom related and I chose to keep her out those days, they were for pay. Okay.

At that point I assumed she could go back so I sent her on Monday. The week of the 12th was fine. On the 20th, I kept her out as she did some throat clearing coughing in the AM, but she didn't cough the rest of the day so I sent her the next day. On the 22nd, she coughed once at drop off and the teacher looked at me. I asked her if she wanted me to take her home. Teacher said no, she could stay. I signed her in at 6:53. Before I even got to work (at 7:17), they were calling me to say they changed their mind.

She has been out now since Oct 22. Her cough is still present at night a little and I'm not sure what to do. I am a teacher who took a new (better, closer to home) job this year so I went from 7 weeks of sick leave to none. My husband doesn't have any at his job either. This isn't sustainable, and I am afraid that we will both lose our jobs.

Does anyone have any thoughts? What are you doing? Is home care better as she will be exposed to less germs? How does one go about finding home care? (No, no friends here with kids in home care.)