Anonymous wrote:OP, are you both splitting the cost of the nanny equally? If the host family is paying her more than you are, they may feel entitled.

If you're paying equally, the nanny should not expose herself, nor your child, to the sick child.

Not all nannies agree to risk illness, especially if she ends up paying for it.

OP?

Your share family has shafted you; they probably feel entitled because they pay her for more hours. I'm part of a share and if one child is sick, I go to the home of the healthy child. Your share family is selfish IMO!

Find a daycare sickness policy online and make it the "policy" of the nanny share. If one kid is sick (as defined by the policy), nanny goes to the home of the well child, and the sick kid stays home.

OP, are you both splitting the cost of the nanny equally? If the host family is paying her more than you are, they may feel entitled.

If you're paying equally, the nanny should not expose herself, nor your child, to the sick child.

Not all nannies agree to risk illness, especially if she ends up paying for it.

Anonymous wrote:Usually, the well child gets the nanny. The parents of the sick child stay home with him/her.

Yep, this is what we do. 1) a sick child wants a parent home and 2) I would rather avoid the nanny being near sick child and possibly getting sick herself. Our nanny goes there when our child is sick.

Now, the kicker is when I'M sick, I have to go to work because there's no where for me to go. The other mom, she gets the house to herself. The perks of not hosting are real!

In my share we set a policy, similar to what you might see at daycare, stating that a fever over 101 degrees, vomiting, and any serious contagious illness or ailment would require the sick child to stay home for the day, and remain home until they are fever/symptom free for 24 hours. If the share host is sick, we relocate to the other house.

This is a policy that everyone agreed to up front, and I would suggest having a similar conversation with your share partners and nanny. Where do you draw the line at too sick to be around your kid/family? What does your nanny feel comfortable taking on, along with the care of a child who is well?

For what it is worth, I don't think it is you who needs to pull your kid out today. Yes one of the benefits of nanny care is sick day coverage, but this is simply not so in a nanny share. Group care requires policies regarding illness and exposure to other healthy kids.

For extreme illness (fever over 100, vomiting) sick kid stays with parents. Nanny stays with healthy kid.

For sniffles, low grade fever, etc, nanny has both kids.

Definitely discuss this now for future instances

Anonymous wrote:Usually, the well child gets the nanny. The parents of the sick child stay home with him/her.

This. I've been a share nanny for 4 years and this is how I would expect it to be handled. The child that isn't well should not have to be exposed to the illness, nor should they be expected to play quietly inside all day, while nanny tends to the other kid. Very selfish of the other parents. It is not fair to monopolize the nanny's attention in a share, and decisions need to be made in the interest of BOTH kids and families, not just one and not just the host family.

Usually, the well child gets the nanny. The parents of the sick child stay home with him/her.

Sounds like something you need to discuss with the share family. Do you have regular "check ins" at all to discuss new issues? This is a "daycare" issue that you guys need to agree on. Do sick kids need to stay home? If so, under what circumstances and for how long? One of the advantages of a nanny is that she will care for sick kids, but it really sucks if your well kid now doesn't get care that you're paying for ...

For today, I would look at this one of two ways: 1) what would you do if this were a sibling, or 2) since you have the option to keep your kid away from the sick kid, would you prefer to do it?

OP, and yes--nanny is at the home of the sick kid.

Is nanny still taking care of child with a fever?

I've worked in shares for 8 years. In this instance, i would usually go to the home of the child that wasn't ill.

We are in our first nanny share with DD, age 3 and another child, age 2. We are not generally the host family, because we only use the nanny 30 of her 50 hours per week. Today the host family's son is sick with a fever, so I don't think it's a great idea for DD to be over there. Since we've never been in a share before, how does this normally work? I guess it's just the way it works that I need to take the afternoon off if I don't want her around a sick kid, right? (Not complaining, just curious if this is the way it's generally done.)