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

[Anonymous]

My 2 yo was sick last week and gave his bad cold to both my nanny and 5yo. Nanny just called in sick for tomorrow and I can’t send my 5yo to school because she has had a fever all day. Normally DH or I just stay home but it just so happens that we both have really important meetings we cannot miss or reschedule. And of course we have no local family.

What do others do in this situation that I am not thinking of? I have two college age weekend sitters and one is busy and one told me she really can’t afford to get sick which I understand. Before I screw myself over at work by telling my boss I won’t be there, any other ideas?

[Anonymous]

Possible to split the day with your DH or are the meetings at the same time?

[Anonymous]

Sit down with spouse to negotiate--
-Can either of you phone in to the meeting?
-Can you tag team it--one goes into work in the AM, comes home and then the other goes it.
-Talk through with spouse as to who will take the bigger hit by not going. I have meetings everyday, but they all do not have equal importance.
-Flip a coin with spouse.

I communicate early to boss and do my best to offer what I can do, ie, "I will be there for the meeting, but will need to be 30 min late because kids & nanny are sick."

[Anonymous]

If there is really no back up, one of you has to miss their meetings. It probably doesn't happen that often.

Keep in mind this gets easier. My nanny was sick all last week - but I could still work during day time hours -I just had to drive back and forth to school....

[Anonymous]

One of you calls into meeting or see if splitting the day into shifts works. Sorry, OP, such bad timing.

[Anonymous]

Sign up for White House Nannies temporary care service.
https://www.whitehousenannies.com/services/temporary-care/

[Anonymous]

How high is the fever?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

The time this happened I had to be at an in person meeting but dh could work from home (on video conferences a lot of the day but could stay home). Kids were 0 and 2 so of course needed someone to care for kids despite dh being home. Nanny called in sick at 7, I posted in local moms Facebook group and found someone that could be there by 8. Texted her general info about kids schedule and with dh there wasn’t too worried about having no idea who this person was or even meeting her before I left. Dh gave her quick tour at 8, kept an ear out and checked in with her once at lunch, and made sure toddler knew he was downstairs to minimize stranger danger. Wasn’t ideal but it got us through the day when we both had mtgs we could skip

[Anonymous]

You make it work. You flex time with your spouse, call into the meeting, or one of you just misses.

I’m surprised this is the first time it’s happened.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for acknowledging that your 5yo has to stay home from school and not being one of the a**hole parents who gives a dose of Motrin in the morning and hopes no one realizes what’s really going on.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of you calls into meeting or see if splitting the day into shifts works. Sorry, OP, such bad timing.

+1

This is what sick leave is for, as much as it sucks. I am just thankful neither of us would be fired over it.

Our employer does have sick kid back up care, but I’m not comfortable leaving my kid at home with a stranger, even if agency-approved. Worth checking if it’s an option, though. But I agree with PP that the center back up care is not an option in this case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for acknowledging that your 5yo has to stay home from school and not being one of the a**hole parents who gives a dose of Motrin in the morning and hopes no one realizes what’s really going on.

NP. Yes! Thank you. Makes me so mad that this happens so regularly. We used to have it happen in a nanny share when my older was 2 and one of the other kid's parents worked from home full time... Ugh.