Working parents - what do you do when kids/nanny are sick and you have to be at work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom is at home with the nanny. So the nanny is there to help out and mom takes care of the baby. Mom and nanny also Uber to the pediatrician if needed.

Thankfully, our kid has good immune system and never catches anything. Also, we immunize religiously.

DH and I can also telework if required. Of course having a nanny is a luxury but we make it work because of the peace of mind of having childcare backup.

How is this *at all* helpful to the OP? You are an asshole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny will work when sick if she has to. She said it was like being a SAHP - not optimal but doable when sick. We get home as soon as humanly possible.

This. You need to get your nanny to come in, at least for a few hours, enough to enable you to attend your meetings. Tell her she can half-ass the day lying in front of the TV with the kids. And give her the following day off instead (or an extra day of leave). I'm sorry, but most salaried office jobs don't really let you have "sick" days either. You can WFH, but meetings still need to be called into, and the work is still there.

[Anonymous]

FYI, my husbands job has a contract with Bright Horizons back up care. There are two options - send child to a bright horizons center or have someone from White House Nannies come to your home. There might be one other option for the home nannies - maybe College Nannies and Sitters? Anyone, we have used it a handful of times in situations like this or for evenings where we both have a work dinner. The law firm lays for the benefit, so there is no cost to us, provided we don’t use it more than 20 times a year (30 when child is in first year of life). The WH Nannies sitters have all been great! Some nurses and teachers who do this on the side as their schedule allows. The other sitting service they contract with has only sent so-so sitters, so we always request the other ones. Never done the drop in care where we bring son to an actual facility so I can’t speak to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I once sent my kid to school on Tylenol knowing kid was sick. I had an important morning meeting I couldn’t miss. I got a call from school, picked up kid and asked my admin to sit in the car with my sick kid. Not one of my proudest moments but I was desperate.

I now stay home with my 3 kids.

Despicable in every way. Your admin is not your damn baby-sitter,!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel lucky that I have a job that will not fire me if I have to call in sick. It's a PITA to write sub plans, but as a single parent, there is nobody else but me.

You chose to be a single parent. Single or married, all parents need several emergency back up child care plans. Your child care problems are not your employer's problem.

[Anonymous]

Things happen. If you had a stomach bug and were vomiting all over the place, you'd miss this meeting. It's not you who is sick but at the end of the day, not every scheduled meeting happens in the end no matter how much planning you try to do and life goes on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things happen. If you had a stomach bug and were vomiting all over the place, you'd miss this meeting. It's not you who is sick but at the end of the day, not every scheduled meeting happens in the end no matter how much planning you try to do and life goes on.

This.

Tell people that you are ill or that you had a family emergency. Life goes on. Surgeries, lectures, meetings, etc can all be rescheduled or covered by a colleague.

The years that your child needs you to be home with them are short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel lucky that I have a job that will not fire me if I have to call in sick. It's a PITA to write sub plans, but as a single parent, there is nobody else but me.

You chose to be a single parent. Single or married, all parents need several emergency back up child care plans. Your child care problems are not your employer's problem.

Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny will work when sick if she has to. She said it was like being a SAHP - not optimal but doable when sick. We get home as soon as humanly possible.

This. You need to get your nanny to come in, at least for a few hours, enough to enable you to attend your meetings. Tell her she can half-ass the day lying in front of the TV with the kids. And give her the following day off instead (or an extra day of leave). I'm sorry, but most salaried office jobs don't really let you have "sick" days either. You can WFH, but meetings still need to be called into, and the work is still there.

This is terrible. She probably got sick from your kid and you will pressure her to come in to work if she feels ill enough to call out? You’re not as important as you think you are. You can reschedule a meeting if both your kid and your nanny are sick. You chose to be a parent which means you have to act like one at some point, not just when it’s fun or convenient for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny will work when sick if she has to. She said it was like being a SAHP - not optimal but doable when sick. We get home as soon as humanly possible.

This. You need to get your nanny to come in, at least for a few hours, enough to enable you to attend your meetings. Tell her she can half-ass the day lying in front of the TV with the kids. And give her the following day off instead (or an extra day of leave). I'm sorry, but most salaried office jobs don't really let you have "sick" days either. You can WFH, but meetings still need to be called into, and the work is still there.

This is terrible. She probably got sick from your kid and you will pressure her to come in to work if she feels ill enough to call out? You’re not as important as you think you are. You can reschedule a meeting if both your kid and your nanny are sick. You chose to be a parent which means you have to act like one at some point, not just when it’s fun or convenient for you.

Huh? Lots of jobs expect you to work when sick. It's not that big a deal to chill on the couch with a sick 5 yo with the TV on. It's just a cold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plus, talk to your supervisor to see if they have any suggestions for the next time this happens. Because it will.

This...would not land well at my employer. It’s really not your boss’s problem to solve your childcare.

Totally agree. That would be like saying to your boss "there's a clog in my vacuum cleaner, what should I do?" or "I didn't know what to make for dinner last night so now i'm hungry.. Any suggestions?"

Some employers provide sick care (at your home) through a nanny/sitter back up care agency. It’s worth asking, as long as you don’t make it more than a question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel lucky that I have a job that will not fire me if I have to call in sick. It's a PITA to write sub plans, but as a single parent, there is nobody else but me.

You chose to be a single parent. Single or married, all parents need several emergency back up child care plans. Your child care problems are not your employer's problem.

You don’t know why they’re single. They may be widowed, other parent may have walked out or been abusive. You don’t get to turn the clock back when things totally flip.

[Anonymous]

One of you skypes into the meeting. Give sick kid a screen and snacks and take the meeting from home. I've had to do this a couple of times. Not ideal, but better than not attending the meeting.

[Anonymous]

The fact that not only can many of you not skip things at work when sick, but also demand that your employees work sick too, is a huge part of what us wrong with our society. Sick time is often required by law, and if someone has the flu, or a contagious bug, and is told they must be at work- just wrong. It is uncaring, anti human, and dangerous for everyone else as well.

I worked 25 years in the restaurant business, before my second career, and the number of times we all cooked your food while sick would disgust you- but there were no sick days. One of my bosses insisted I show up for work with 104 fever. I ended up in the hospital( I had no idea I was having chronic sinus infections, and had worked with one for months and it became very bad).

I realize this isn't an answer, but the number of angry workers insisting that everyone just show up sick made me sad. A cold, I get- it even now, I still get those infections, but I know to get a scrip and it is better in a week, and I work through it. But no one can work with the flu, or a stomach bug, pneumonia, etc. I think our work environment of constant screens, tech, and availability, has made everyone dehumanized and angry about work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you checked about a back up care benefit at the office? My agency has a contract with Bright Horizons for exactly this situation. They try to advertise but I keep finding colleagues who don’t know about it.

Not OP but that’s not for sick kids, right?

No, it’s not.

My firm has this benefit and there are two levels of service one is for use of the BH center and the other is for care of sick children and they will send a nanny to your house for up to 10 hours a day. I’ve used it often best service ever for working parents. The company subsidizes the fees to so it is way cheaper than a reg baby sitter.