I work for a great family. Well educated. Super thoughtful... but I am concerned about the children's safety.Mom and Dad keep leaving medicine all over the house. They give cough drops to a 2 year old. And leave them out. The child recently finished a bag for breakfast because mom left it out. Ate 8! The kid got into the Aleve bottle recently. And then twice more.
Today I got here and Dad left the little 12 month old boy's medicine on a counter and the 2 year old brother got to it. Had about 5-6 times more than should!
I have told them we need baby locks to keep it out of reach. But they keep leaving things out! And no baby locks yet. I told them it will happen again, and it has, as you guys can tell by the examples given. This all over a 3 week period! I don't take the kids to the doctor so I can't talk to him. What do I do?
The weirdest part is they don't take medicine hardly ever, but they are risking their kids lives. I shouldn't have to run to the kids room to make sure they are still alive. And I don't think it's funny to see them giggle about their faux pas. Any advice?
9 comments:
You need to report this immediately... it is dangerous and very scary.. If something does happen- they could turn and blame you. and you could not probably leave with yourself- if something did happen. I know I couldn't.
Call Poison Control (1.800.222.1222) every single time something is ingested by one of the kids that could be dangerous.
They will probably ask for your name, the kids pediatrician contact info, etc. and I would think that they keep records of calls.
And YOU need to document every incident as well. If you keep a nanny log, write in there, and then make a copy for yourself if you have access to a copier in their home.
If you don't have access to a copier, keep your own record, and note that the incident was reported to poison control and logged in the nanny log.
You need to CYA, as well as making sure the kids are safe every time. Be explicit in explaining to poison control that the meds or whatever were left out BY THE PARENTS.
Hopefully enough calls will cause some system somewhere to alert and get either DFCS or the pediatrician heavily involved with this issue.
wow, this is definitely dangerous and especially just that it is in the past three weeks!
I would be really nervous as I 1. would not want to be blamed for their faux pas (although, I feel it is much more severe than that!) 2. I feel for the poor kid.
I really have no advice if they just sit there and giggle. I think even if you had locks it wouldn't work because they are leaving it out and they would probably continue to do that. I would definitely document ALL incidences you can think of from the past and here on out. I would also call poison control each time so they can document... cough drops, aleve (3 times?), baby medicine... not good.
I am afraid the only thing that will get them to see how harmful this REALLY is is if something happens and you really do not want it to get to that. I pray they recognize the seriousness of this!
I agree reporting it sounds like a good idea and definitely make the case to the parents one more time about the seriousness of the situation. I am worried for the kids safety as well but you may need to find a new job I would be worried of the possibility of a serious over dose etc by a child under my care and would be worried that if the parents dont take their child's safety seriously what else do they neglect (car seats, helmets, road safety, chemicals,etc) If you make a serious case to the parents and they still dont take it seriously please report the family to social services because you are a mandatory reporter in this line of work and the children need to be protected. good luck
Personally I wouldn't call child services or anyone just yet. I think you should talk with the parents and tell them how concerned you are with this habit. Be sure to use a serious tone to assure them of how serious it is. I would also suggest that you propose having one place to keep all the medicine. Most people keep it in the bathroom but it would probably be better for this family to keep it in the kitchen, which is more accessible TO THE ADULTS. The most important thing is that all the medicine be out of reach of the children, which you obviously know. If there is one place to keep it, perhaps the parents would actually put it back in that place? One can only hope. If this continues, however, I would definitely call poison control each time and document it for yourself. I don't think you should be overly dramatic when it happens but be sure to express that it isn't ok!
This is so dangerous. I know the parents should step up but is there anyway you could purchase baby locks /safe box to put all the medications in? Keep the receipts and have them reimburse you for the cost. In my years of being a nanny I notice sometimes I had to take things in my own hands since parents seem to "forget". Explain to them that you not trying to over step your boundaries, nor are you knocking their parenting skills, but it's simply for your own peace of mind.
Show them this. A 1-year old boy swallows pills and dies.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=8392253&hpt=us_bn4
You definitely need to talk to them again. In the meantime, I would do a quick check of the house each morning to make sure nothing is within reach of the children. If you find any meds lying around, collect them and google how much of each med it would take for a child to overdose, then present that to the parents when you talk. Good luck!
Ok. First off. Aleve is very dangerous. The dosing for a grown adult is only 2 tables in 24 hours. Secondly, you better look at ALL the medicine and take anything with tylenol and shove it into the parents face and tell them that their kid could die of liver failure if they have too much. And it doesn't happen right away. They could die 3 days after taking the lethal dose because of the way that it is metabolized by the body.
This isn't funny. Good thing cough drops are mostly sugar and menthol. I think you should go out and buy a locked safe. You can get them from walmart. THey have keys. Lock up all the medicine and keep the key. If they want it they will have to come to you to open it. Maybe they will get the jist after having to do that a couple of times. I hope it bugs the shit out of them
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