What to do when you child cant go to creche

dbyrne

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone knows what me and my wife can do.

Our child has just started creche and my wife has just gone back to work, things seemed to be going well. Unfortunetly our baby has picked up a tummy bug and cannot go into creche. I have taken yesterday working from home, she has taken todayday and tommorow we are doing a half day each. Unfortunetly I cannot work from home, i was just a coincidence that I had paper work to do so that I could work from home, my wifes job is also the same. Unfortunetly we dont have family close that can mind our child when she is sick.

Does anyone know if there is someone/somewhere that can mind children when something like this happens, in south dublin, on short notice? Maybe a parent whos children are just in school/started and they are home alone?. Is anyone else in this situation and if so what did you do?

Thanks for your help

axel rose

I see your logic but Im afraid its not practical. What you want is a responsible adult to work on an on call basis to take care of your child when they are sick, this will facilitate both you and your wife to go to work.

So far so good......however.....no responsible caring adult would take your child under these circumstances. they would need at least build up a relationship with your child first, nor can your expect them to sit around and wait for your call.

More importantly when your wee kiddie is sick- all they want is mammy or daddy not a stranger, regardless of how nice they are.


Welcome to the tough hard world of parenting.



My only advice is to make use of your force majour leave- Children have a habit of ruining the best of plans Im afraid.

Enii

axel rose wrote: »

Welcome to the tough hard world of parenting.



My only advice is to make use of your force majour leave- Children have a habit of ruining the best of plans Im afraid.

Isn't Force Majeur only allowable for serious issues such as hospitalisation?

Plus many small companies do not freely give this option.

OP - do you have a relative who could step in and mind your bub?

axel rose

Well All I know is that force majour is used in my job for this reason.

.

dbyrne

Unfortunetly we have noone that can mind our child its quite serious as 1 of us may end up going part time or becoming a stay at home parent.

Force Majeur is not an option I am afraid.

I understand that when a child is sick they just want their parents, i am not just saying im going to give my child to any stranger that is willing to take her, I am very protective of my child. My child just has a tummy bug but is in good form, smiley and happy.

Someone like a baby sitter, who does a job on short notice, maybe would also do baby sitting for you in the evenings or at weekends. I am suprised that there is not someone out there that would be interested in this.

Axel sorry to hear about your loss.

axel rose

Thanks dbyrne.
All I can suggest is that you ask other parents in your area for recommendations for mature babysitters, Find one you like and treat yourselves to a couple of nights out and mybe go from there....


I didnt mean to suggest that you wanted to 'dump' your daughter-i just had images of a screaming wee girl in the arms of a mother ........later neither mammy or daddy getting any work done.....:(

kelle

OP, I understand your problem so well - I've been there. Tried using Force majeure leave on one occasion, but I met with a brick wall there - I was told I would only be considered if I was a single parent! My mother-in-law has been great to take them when sick, but very reluctant if they have tummy bugs - as she says herself she's not young anymore.

What age is your child? My children used to get tummy bugs very often, but I've found that since I started giving them a probiotic drink every day since last March they haven't had any (touch wood!). Also, as they get older they seem to build up resistance and get sick less often.

Moonbeam

Our creche has a 24 hour rule.
If baby is sick of has a temperature you can not send them back until they have been over it for 24 hours.
We are in the same boat one of us have to take a day off if baby is sick.
Once they start creche they seem constantly sick but it doesn't last too long.

Ludo

Am I missing something obvious here?

Why can't one of ye take time from your annual leave? Is that not the normal thing to do.

eviltwin

Ludo wrote: »

Am I missing something obvious here?

Why can't one of ye take time from your annual leave? Is that not the normal thing to do.

Not an option for everyone I'm afraid. My boss has been pretty cool about stuff like that and if something did crop up last minute then taking a day out of holidays wasn't usually a problem but if we were short staffed then forget it.

Joey the lips

Force majure - up to 3 days for unforseen circumstances. take it and let the boss prove your not entitled

Ludo

Fair enough but I cant believe it wasn't even mentioned. Anyway...if there is no other option and annual leave is going to be denied, then I guess the only option is a sickie.

spongeman

Been there as well.

Had to take the days off as holidays im afraid.

smelltheglove

Most people do have to take days off when their child is sick. Most companies expect and allow for this. If it is a case that you can NOT take a day off, i.e. in my line of work I cant just call up a client on their wedding day and say, sorry my child is sick enjoy your day, maybe you might have a close neighbour that you trust? Neighbours tend to be very helpful, when I was growing up we all helped each other out, even my last house there were a few neighbours I could rely on if needs be not that it ever happened. Another person I have to rely on is the parents of my daughters school friend, they help me out quite regularily like this morning I had to bring the youngest to hosp for 9 so I left the eldest at their house at 8.10. I wouldnt jump the gun worrying about part time work or giving up a job, most kids dont get ill too often and most bosses have been there and done that.

Soylent_Green

Creches can be quick to send kids home, despite the fact that most of the bugs they pick up are from someone in the creche. Usually by the time the bug starts showing symptoms it has been passed on to the other kids anyway. If possible and you think your kid is ok to go back to creche get a doctors cert confirming this. Creche should have no problems taking them back then.

eviltwin

Touch wood it won't be something that happens all that often but you do have to prepare for the fact that as your kid grows up there will always be something out there they can catch and you may at short notice have to keep them home from creche/school etc so its important to have a back up plan.

Its no harm like the poster below to have someone close by you can call on in an emergency. Hopefully you won't need them but if your job isn't flexible its a good idea to suss someone out who can be there when you need a last minute sitter

Waternews

It's an incredibly awkward situation and you absolutely must have a back up plan. I'm in a similar position, and I'm afraid the answer is 'annual leave'.
Your boss mightn't like it, but you have no other choice.
What I can suggest is that you get yourself set up to work from home - I'm presuming you have an office based job by the way, so apologies if you are a tree surgeon. Get your IT to set up a VPN and sort out accessing your email, or get a Blackberry.

That way you can say 'I'm not coming in because DD is sick. I can keep on top of x, y, z and later on tonight will get that wotsit done'. NB: It is not possible to work productively with a sick child, but you can keep on top of urgent stuff and make the odd phone call.

Above all, this shows that you are being flexible with your boss, that you are putting a plan in place for when this happens again and that you are taking your work seriously. This solution may work better for your wife depending on her job.

littlebug

It is a really difficult situation and more so when you don't have family nearby to call on. With regard to having another childminder to call on... well really no matter how happy and smily your child is if they still have tummy bug symptoms it isn't fair to send them to a house where there are other children so the bug spreads. Having someone that can come to your own house would work better.... but I imagine the chances of someone who will be "on call" like that are slim.

My eldest was sick a lot as a baby... it is one of the reasons I chose to work part time when i had the second. Sickness is fairly rare now but it still happens. My daughter was off school for 2 weeks before Christmas... that would have been a lot of days off from a full time job.:(
I don't think there is an easy answer.

dbyrne

Thanks for everyones answers, it is really difficult. I see alot if people are in the same boat. Our creche has the same rule, 24 hours after the bug has finished before you can send a child back in. Force majure is really supposed to be if your child is in hospital etc, for serious situations, i can understand if a boss gets annoyed (would use stronger language if it was allowed) if you use it for something small.

Most of the days of the month I cannot work from home, maybe 1 or 2 days but these are fixed days. I am on the road and I am also in the office depending on when it is in a month.
Myself and the wife are having a serious chat as 1 of us by the looks of it will haveto go part time or remain a stay at home parent.
Annual Leave only has so many days, and as my wife is just back at work from maternity leave its not that easy for her to get days off. Some days we will just have to take as holidays there are no optioins. Its just something that we are going to have to get sorted one way or another.

The babysitter/neighbour is probably the best option so I will have to investigate. Wish I had gone the au pair route like one of my old neighbours had, seemed to work very well for them.

sheehyskeff

dbyrne wrote: »

Thanks for everyones answers, it is really difficult. I see alot if people are in the same boat. Our creche has the same rule, 24 hours after the bug has finished before you can send a child back in. Force majure is really supposed to be if your child is in hospital etc, for serious situations, i can understand if a boss gets annoyed (would use stronger language if it was allowed) if you use it for something small.

Most of the days of the month I cannot work from home, maybe 1 or 2 days but these are fixed days. I am on the road and I am also in the office depending on when it is in a month.
Myself and the wife are having a serious chat as 1 of us by the looks of it will haveto go part time or remain a stay at home parent.
Annual Leave only has so many days, and as my wife is just back at work from maternity leave its not that easy for her to get days off. Some days we will just have to take as holidays there are no optioins. Its just something that we are going to have to get sorted one way or another.

The babysitter/neighbour is probably the best option so I will have to investigate. Wish I had gone the au pair route like one of my old neighbours had, seemed to work very well for them.

Hi dbyrne.

It might be worth your while having a look around for a good full-time childminder. We've just started our eldest in school this year and needed someone reliable to do school drop offs and collections. In addition, she minds our new baby now too so it's worked out very well all round. It's just a given these days that working Mums and Dads need another adult in their child's life in some kind of full time capacity. The costs work out quite similar to full time creche. Good luck and hope little one is better soon.