How do working parents arrange emergency/backup child care?

[Anonymous]

We both work, we don’t send our kids to school sick, and we don’t have backup care. Our kids don’t get sick a ton and they don’t tend to get each other sick, but also it just works out. We’ve teleworked, we’ve shifted hours to “share” a day so we each just miss a couple of hours. No family in area either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW I don't think most people have solid backup sitters. You just get used to a higher degree of stress and you figure it out as it comes. I've also done things like send kids to school a little sick figuring it gets me part of a day before (or if) the nurse sends them home. Not great, but it doesn't happen much. If I really couldn't miss work I would consider using a service like White House Nannies. It will be an adjustment and feels like a scramble at times, but it does work out!

You're the worst.

I know a SAHM who admitted to me sending her sick kid to school because dealing with two kids at home is too much work if one is sick. So she sends them and hopes the nurse doesn’t send them back until late.

[Anonymous]

Be careful of WH nannies. They sent us a nanny who spent hours on her phone, told my 1 year old to play with his toys instead of crying when she was on the phone. Terrible. We had a nanny cam she was aware of, so we saw that this had happened. Of course she was completely lovely in the morning and evening, and pretended to be super engaged.

[Anonymous]

We have 3 kids, both work full-time; husband has more flexibility and usually takes off. Employer provides back up care benefits through Bright horizons back up care, you can either send your child to a center ( like on teacher work days) or they will send a nanny to you, have used this when neither parent can take off.
Our gym (Lifetime) also offers snow day camps and teacher work day camps, which is a nice option to have, drop off at 8am, pick up is 5:30 (I think)
Our oldest is now in 6th, and I would be okay with leaving her alone at home if sick (we have an alarm system and cameras in the house, so I could check in on her), also recent took a new position closer to home, so I can come back during lunch and check up on things if needed
Congrats on your new job, yes, it will feel very stressful at first, but eventually it will feel less stressful.

I would say don’t bring it up to your employer right now; come up with a plan now, I would actually try not to call out for the first 6 months, use WH nannies and pay to have them on standby, I always keep low expectations of back up nannies, their job is to keep my kids safe so I can go to work; on such days if my kids end up watching too much TV, I let it go because I got to work and wasn’t stressed about calling out.

Best of luck to you and your family

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I don’t know who these parents are that have never sent a sick child to school. And I don’t think it really has to do with working status although I am sure that influences your diagnosis. Have none of you had a child that woke up a little stuffed up, you sent them to school and they were coming down with the plague or something and you felt like the worst mother ever? And so the next time you notice a slight sniffle, you keep your kid home and turns out she is bored by 930 and jumping off the walls. We all screw up diagnozing the seriousness of our kid’s illness when they wake up in the morning.

For me, I wanted my kids to learn that they needed to go to school every day and I didn’t want to make it easy for them to skip school. I have one that always thinks she is going to be able to make it through just fine and one that would give Ferris Bueller a run for his money. So basically, I can’t ask either of them. I have to make my best judgement and sometimes it’s wrong.

OP - you will figure it out. Honestly, once they are in grade school, more than the occasional sick day, you have to plan for weathe in Jan and Feb.

[Anonymous]

My kids are healthy. My youngest som had perfect attendance last yesr and is on track so far this year. On the rsre chance a kid gets sick, DH and i figure out who can affors to WFH.

On snow days and teacher work days i have an awesome group of working parents in the neighborhood i trade off with. Today i took 2 sets of kids (total of 5 kids inc mine). Tomorrow one of those other parents are taking both my kids while i go into the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I had multiple kids with pink eye who were went to school by parents last week and then I had to send them to the health room when I noticed it. It obviously was a domino effect after the first one came in and was contagious. By then the damage had already been done. Some parents just dismissed it as allergies when they were called to pick their kid up and argued about it. Of course I was hyper vigilant about hand washing when I could get to a sink but I don't have a sink in my classroom. I Cloroxed every service while wearing gloves but still ended up getting it. Just so you all know--building services doesn't deep clean our classrooms. When bugs go around we're the ones who have to disinfect the whole room.

I totally get sending a child to school with pink eye. Yes- if it is the viral or bacterial one it is contageous. But if it the allergy one it is not. I have had multiple pediatricians tell me that pink eye is no big deal- there are no other health conditions resulting from pink eye- it is just mildly unpleasant while it lasts.

Same here. Not sure why everyone is acting like pink eye is equivalent to ebola.

[Anonymous]

We know a lady not too far from us who runs a daycare from her house. My kids went there for a couple of weeks in the Summer, we really hit off and she told me feel free to drop them during any emergency. There was this one PD day when our part time nanny couldn't cover it and DH and I had non negotiable work commitments. I dropped them there, they like her and they had a great day. On Christmas we stopped by her house to give Christmas presents, all I am trying to say is build a relationship and do ask them if you were to drop them for a day what sort of rates they charge.

Between our PT nanny, DH, myself and Daycare lady, we are covered. Hopefully you will figure this all out much sooner than me. Good luck and welcome back to the workforce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I had multiple kids with pink eye who were went to school by parents last week and then I had to send them to the health room when I noticed it. It obviously was a domino effect after the first one came in and was contagious. By then the damage had already been done. Some parents just dismissed it as allergies when they were called to pick their kid up and argued about it. Of course I was hyper vigilant about hand washing when I could get to a sink but I don't have a sink in my classroom. I Cloroxed every service while wearing gloves but still ended up getting it. Just so you all know--building services doesn't deep clean our classrooms. When bugs go around we're the ones who have to disinfect the whole room.

I totally get sending a child to school with pink eye. Yes- if it is the viral or bacterial one it is contageous. But if it the allergy one it is not. I have had multiple pediatricians tell me that pink eye is no big deal- there are no other health conditions resulting from pink eye- it is just mildly unpleasant while it lasts.

Please. Stop. Doing. This.

Agreed. This is awful. It is more than unpleasant. Doctor visits and medication are expensive if you don't have insurance. Plus the other parents have to take time off to take the kid to the doctor and the kid misses school.
None of this takes into account getting the damn drops into a reluctant child's eye. You are awful and selfish PP.

[Anonymous]

Where are you located? I had good luck with the AU Job Board, lots of grad students who have classes at night and wanted to earn some extra money.

[Anonymous]

We had a bunch of options lined up for different situations:

-for non-sick situations, our kid could join a nanny share for a day here and there
-We knew a woman with nannying experience and a flexible part time job, she would sit for us when she wasn't working her other job, or sometimes rearrange her hours for us (we paid well to make this worth her while)
-my employer had some special arrangement with a local emergency nanny company that I used a couple times
-I've always observed the sick kid rules at daycare and now at school-but there are no rules against sending a kid with a cough or runny nose to school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I usually try to split sick days with DH (one of us goes in early and returns at noon, while the other goes in at noon and comes back late).

We often do this too. That way neither of us takes the hit completely, and we are each able to attend some meetings in person.

We do this a lot too. My day skews early and DHs skews late, so I go in super early and leave around lunchtime. DH goes to work and comes home super late.
It is what it is, I guess. With very young kids, telework while they are sick is just a nonstarter, but as they've gotten older it's easier to do email, take a call, etc while they are sleeping or watching a movie. I should add that I DO NOT charge my employer for a whole day, if I've been home with a sick kid, unless magically I actually did 8 solid hours of work (probably early AM and late PM). I typically split the day betweek sick and WFH.
At the first sign of sickness, or snow, or (fill in the blank) we go into serious contingency planning... so that we both know which days we might need to cover if it lingers.

This. We check our schedules and see what meetings can or can’t be missed, what can be rescheduled.

Same here. I WFH full time but DD is just a toddler and there is no WFH while the toddler plays in the background so if I'm taking care of her, I'm on leave. DH and I compare schedules when bad weather is forecasted or DD is showing signs of illness that would necessitate a sick day and figure out who can swing staying home with her. If either one of us could swing it, DH takes the sick days and I take the weather days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a bunch of options lined up for different situations:

-for non-sick situations, our kid could join a nanny share for a day here and there
-We knew a woman with nannying experience and a flexible part time job, she would sit for us when she wasn't working her other job, or sometimes rearrange her hours for us (we paid well to make this worth her while)
-my employer had some special arrangement with a local emergency nanny company that I used a couple times
-I've always observed the sick kid rules at daycare and now at school-but there are no rules against sending a kid with a cough or runny nose to school

Same here. We keep DD home with any sign of fever, stomach stuff, or other serious stuff but if I kept her home every time she had a runny nose or a cough, she wouldn't go anywhere from November through April.

[Anonymous]

I haven't used this (we had back up care advantage through DH's work) but a friend has....http://metroparentrelief.com/newborn-care/back-up-childcare/