Alexandra Corradini Lovett's two-year-old son Leo loves to see his friends and learn new things at childcare.
While the rest of Canberra is easing back into a COVID-normal life, he's been forced into seven days' isolation four times since the beginning of the year.
"My husband and I are both full time [workers] and we have no family in Canberra so we are highly dependent on childcare," Mrs Lovett said.
"My partner and I have to literally flip a coin as to who has to stay home."
Canberra families with young children say the COVID isolation rules are taking an enormous toll on their financial and mental wellbeing as toddlers are forced to isolate repeatedly.
Mrs Lovatt fears that Leo is also missing out on social and emotional development opportunities.
"I feel like the government is doing what they can to go back to normalcy but why is childcare not being included in regulation changes?"
Sarah Rodwell sent her 18-month-old daughter to childcare after seven days' quarantine only to get a call 34 hours later about another case at her childcare centre.
"I was just like, 'Not again. No'," Mrs Rodwell said.
She said it was difficult to tell her daughter that she couldn't go out to see friends or family.
"She just knows she has to be at home. You can't really explain it to an 18-month-old. It's already sad that one of her first words was 'mask'."
Chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said early learning centres were treated differently to schools because the interactions between children and staff supported transmission of the virus.
"Staff are carrying children around, children are touching each other and rubbing [their] noses all the time and so we get a lot of transmission and we are likely to get a lot of cases," Dr Coleman said.
"We are continuing to work with our Education Directorate colleagues about what the right balance is in terms of trying to allow the businesses to continue and provide that essential service... to parents who need to go to work but also keep those businesses open, while also balancing not putting particular people at unreasonable risk of COVID transmission."
Canberra Health Services infectious disease physician Dr Nick Coatsworth said relaxing isolation rules to allow children who are well and test negative to return to childcare after an exposure was a logical next step.
"I think the majority of people are sort of coming to the conclusions based on the data that it's a mild disease children, that the adults have been vaccinated, so the bubble around those children is well-protected. And we want to get on on with it." he said.
"And then you've got you've got to balance that against, a significant minority who are still very concerned ... so I don't think it's an easy task for the chief health officers at the moment, at a time when it is time to lift and moderate these restrictions."
Dr Coatsworth said a COVID-19 vaccination for six-months to five-year-olds was a long way away and its possible it may never be recommended for this age group.
"I do think that would lead to some fairly significant disruptions to people's work and family life if we were to continue with this policy whilst waiting for the green light to vaccinate that group."
