taking care of sick children

[Anonymous]

I've been a nanny for many years and have always taken care of the children when they have been home sick. It is part of the job. Your nanny is unprofessional and immature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been a nanny for many years and have always taken care of the children when they have been home sick. It is part of the job. Your nanny is unprofessional and immature.

Funny you say that since she is an older lady. I mean the immature part

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been a nanny for many years and have always taken care of the children when they have been home sick. It is part of the job. Your nanny is unprofessional and immature.

Funny you say that since she is an older lady. I mean the immature part

Age and maturity are not synonymous.

[Anonymous]

If she is older she may just find that her immune system isn't as great as it was and that when she catches something it really knocks her out. Or she may find the work of caring for multiple sick kids physically gruelling.

Also when little kids are very sick they often want their parents so it can be hard looking after a little one who is feverish, throwing up and crying for mommy and you can't give them the one thing they want/need for comfort.

Your sick policy isn't really clear - has she taken sick days before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she is older she may just find that her immune system isn't as great as it was and that when she catches something it really knocks her out. Or she may find the work of caring for multiple sick kids physically gruelling.

Also when little kids are very sick they often want their parents so it can be hard looking after a little one who is feverish, throwing up and crying for mommy and you can't give them the one thing they want/need for comfort.

Your sick policy isn't really clear - has she taken sick days before?

My sick policy is pretty simple. If a nanny is sick she should take a day of. I do not limit it to a certain number of days a year. Our nanny been sick once so far when she had a pretty bad cold. She took 5 days to get well and it was fine. As I mentioned at times she looks like she could use a day of in which case I just offer her to take once.

My kids were not throwing up and they were not violently sick. I agree it is harder to take care of sick children. I guess I did not appreciate the fact she was silently demonstrating how annoyed she was at the fact we were sick. I mean when she is sick or needs anything we are always willing to accommodate. I just was not ready for the attitude and lack of basic compassion since this is not how we treat her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she is older she may just find that her immune system isn't as great as it was and that when she catches something it really knocks her out. Or she may find the work of caring for multiple sick kids physically gruelling.

Also when little kids are very sick they often want their parents so it can be hard looking after a little one who is feverish, throwing up and crying for mommy and you can't give them the one thing they want/need for comfort.

Your sick policy isn't really clear - has she taken sick days before?

My sick policy is pretty simple. If a nanny is sick she should take a day of. I do not limit it to a certain number of days a year. Our nanny been sick once so far when she had a pretty bad cold. She took 5 days to get well and it was fine. As I mentioned at times she looks like she could use a day of in which case I just offer her to take once.

My kids were not throwing up and they were not violently sick. I agree it is harder to take care of sick children. I guess I did not appreciate the fact she was silently demonstrating how annoyed she was at the fact we were sick. I mean when she is sick or needs anything we are always willing to accommodate. I just was not ready for the attitude and lack of basic compassion since this is not how we treat her.

Did you give her a heads up about the cold, OP? I don't have a problem caring for sick kids, but would not appreciate walking into a sick household with no warning. Given that caring for sick children is no fun for anyone, is it possible that you have been tired and short tempered with her, and this is really what she isn't happy about? I think you should just talk to her and see what's up. She could be upset for any number of reasons, or not nearly as upset as you are perceiving her to be.

[Anonymous]

She took 5 days off for a cold? Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She took 5 days off for a cold? Seriously?

What's the most you've taken off for illness?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the illness. If it's a fever under 100 or the sniffles, I don't care and I'll always be available to work. Once the fever is clear, I'll come back to work (I don't have the "wait 24 hours policy" that most daycares have)

If the child is throwing up, has a high fever, or has diarrhea, then the parents need to stay home. But all of that is in my work agreement.

Now here is someone who should not be working with children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she is older she may just find that her immune system isn't as great as it was and that when she catches something it really knocks her out. Or she may find the work of caring for multiple sick kids physically gruelling.

Also when little kids are very sick they often want their parents so it can be hard looking after a little one who is feverish, throwing up and crying for mommy and you can't give them the one thing they want/need for comfort.

Your sick policy isn't really clear - has she taken sick days before?

My sick policy is pretty simple. If a nanny is sick she should take a day of. I do not limit it to a certain number of days a year. Our nanny been sick once so far when she had a pretty bad cold. She took 5 days to get well and it was fine. As I mentioned at times she looks like she could use a day of in which case I just offer her to take once.

My kids were not throwing up and they were not violently sick. I agree it is harder to take care of sick children. I guess I did not appreciate the fact she was silently demonstrating how annoyed she was at the fact we were sick. I mean when she is sick or needs anything we are always willing to accommodate. I just was not ready for the attitude and lack of basic compassion since this is not how we treat her.

Did you give her a heads up about the cold, OP? I don't have a problem caring for sick kids, but would not appreciate walking into a sick household with no warning. Given that caring for sick children is no fun for anyone, is it possible that you have been tired and short tempered with her, and this is really what she isn't happy about? I think you should just talk to her and see what's up. She could be upset for any number of reasons, or not nearly as upset as you are perceiving her to be.

No, I actually did not. We became sick while she was there. She new about the 3 year old when she came in on Monday. The baby and I did not feel well in the morning (which I thought was no big deal) and felt pretty bad by the end of the day. We could not quite warn her that we were going to end up sick by the end of the day as I did not know.

[Anonymous]

What is so immature about wearing a mask and protecting one's health??!

Sorry. I don't get it.

[Anonymous]

A mask is very drama-ish but i would just roll my eyes if nanny thought she needed one - fine.

But giving a heads up on a cold?? Kids have colds like constantly - i do not even view my kids as "sick" if they have colds (nor do i view myself as such). A cold is a cold. "Sick" means fever, puking, etc - something serious, not something tissues can handle.

[Anonymous]

My DB is a doctor and asks me to wear a mask when either I or the kids are sick. What's dramatic about protecting oneself?

[Anonymous]

op here. I see nothing wrong with wearing a mask in this situation. To me it was not about wearing a mask specifically but her behavior in overall. There was resentment, certain body language, she was clearly unhappy about us being sick as if we did it on purpose to make her life harder. i was surprised at complete lack of compassion. Whenever she did not feel well before and I could see that I would just let her stay home or leave our house if she is already here and I was working from home that day.

[Anonymous]

I have always taken care of sick kids-including if they had sickness and diarrhea/chicken pox etc. Its one of the big advantages of hiring a nanny over daycare.
My guess is is she was pissy because you were home sick, rather than the kids as she felt you should of then had the kids. Which is an idiotic belief of hers as if you are sick it makes sense you recuperate since the nanny was scheduled to come in anyway