How unprofessional was this?

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on your company culture. But I have to tell you, this is what TVs were made for!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Strap him into the high chair and give a bowl of ice cream
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Op here - he is out of a high chair. Too big.

Same goes for pack n play. Too big.

He is 39 pounds and 38” tall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on your company culture. But I have to tell you, this is what TVs were made for!

Haha I did have the tv on! He didn’t watch it.

[Anonymous]

It's fine. You're fine.

[Anonymous]

its a reality these days. sadly those without children aren't as sympathetic, so its hard to know how they received it. its the best you could do, so don't beat yourself up over it. and honestly, if its even a lingering thought for your director, then you can find somewhere else to work thats more accommodating

I have 8-10 meetings a day and something similar happens in about 20% of them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Short of having DH reschedule his call or finding a last-minute sitter who is ok with possible COVID exposure, there's nothing else you can do. This is the reality that many of us working parents with kids in daycare are facing right now. I suppose you could have tried to put your child in another room where they are safe so that you could take the call uninterrupted, but I know that would have been impossible with my kid when she was 2. There's no sense in dwelling on this because it's done.

Did you explain at the top of the meeting that you are dealing with an unexpected daycare quarantine today? Either way, it can't hurt to email your boss, acknowledge that the meeting didn't go as smoothly as you'd wanted due to the daycare issue, and offer to discuss it further/schedule another meeting at a time that's convenient for them.

OP here - DH couldn't reschedule his call. It was a client facing call getting ready for a hearing. He is an attorney.

PP here. I'm an attorney, too, so I understand. But that's just it - there's really nothing else you could do when facing a sudden daycare closure/quarantine.

Since you will likely be dealing with this for several more days until your child can return, I would take a hard look at your schedule and DH's schedule to figure out whether any future calls or meetings need to be rescheduled.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think this counts as a bad kind of unprofessional. It’s not like you made a poor choice to do something inappropriate (like try to kiss a colleague, or tell a racist joke). It’s much more of an emergency situation that you tried to handle as best you could.

[Anonymous]

Not unprofessional at all unless you are in a job where you can easily afford a nanny. If so, Your boss would seriously side eye you if you still didn’t get one in this climate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clearly you just want to complain and make excuses.

This is very cringe behavior. This pandemic has been going on this child's entire life - surely you have had time to come up with backup plans? If you have truly no child-safe space to put your kid in this type of situation, you only have yourself to blame.

Op here - yes I realize it has been going on for 2 years. First our daycares have been open since July 2020 so all kids have had childcare since then. Older kids are fine while we work if they are home. Youngest has changed a lot in the past year. We used to be able to put him in a pack n play. Or he napped twice a day. Now he is a huge 2 year old into everything.

Also people have been very easy going about this sort of thing but I have a feeling that is changing and people think more like you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really unprofessional.

+1 Agreed. That's pretty bad OP.

[Anonymous]

It was pretty unprofessional. You can't help that your child couldn't go to daycare. However, you needed to cancel the meeting, even if it would be tricky to reschedule. It's not like you have a 5 year old that could sit and watch Paw Patrol for while you did the call. You have a 2 year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You did your best. This is a different world we are living in. This is not slacking off, this is being more than just a working drone. If they have a problem with what happened this is a good time to look for a new job.

+1

[Anonymous]

I understand why you’re hung up on this but I’d just move on and if you hear any grief about it then apologize at that point. Otherwise, keep doing a great job and it’ll hopefully be quickly forgotten.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I mean, no need to dwell, it is what it is, though I would definitely send an apology making it clear that this was an anomaly due to covid exposure (and thus you're not usually working with a toddler). I would say it was a 7/10 unprofessional.

I know you were stuck between a rock and a hard place, but I don't think this was the best option.

Big picture - baby proof his room (attaching the furniture to the walls is crucial here for safety) and start practicing independent playtime in his room. He needs to learn to entertain himself sometimes. Start with 10 minutes, work your way up.

Medium picture - much as it sucks to be where we are, we're still here. If your kid is that dependent on you (TV not an option, etc) then you can't work when he's home. You just can't. So you need to figure out a backup care option. I mean, how are you working at all this week? Sounds like the answer is you're not. So if you and/or your husband can't take time off, you need a plan that isn't "hold my kid in meetings."

Obviously, you can't do that day of. Honestly, I would have reached out to my boss and told him I was going to take a sick day and needed to, unfortunately, reschedule because my kid was going to be home from daycare due to covid exposure and he would interrupt the call. I would only go forward with the call if the boss insisted that it was preferable to do it with the kid than reschedule.

[Anonymous]

I'd send my boss a note to apologize and then let it go. If this is an isolated incident, any decent supervisor will understand. We are living in challenging times.