DD unwell, had to take a day off, works reaction..

I do find it quite bizarre the way people regard employment has shifted massively in my working lifetime.
These days, people seem to regard it as something they do as long as there is nothing else going on in their life that needs attention, but they get paid regardless. Any hint that work should be prioritised is met with hostility.
Today's workplaces operate on fewer staff so any absence is felt more keenly. You being off will impact your fellow workers.
I'm not sure what the answer is beyond building up a network, as you absolutely can't expect work to suck it up and pay you to stay home every time your child is ill.
At the end of the day, your family are not your employer's responsibility, regardless of what the majority of pps on here think

I never said random - check my posts. I’ve said meet in advance - of course you don’t know when your child will be sick as pointed out here - but you can check out the organisations in advance. WFH isn’t always possible. All the posters here advocating no support network and endless time off for kid sick at home - no wonder single parents can find it hard to get a job. I’d certainly be hesitant to employ someone with absolutely who had no intention of finding childcare. Statutory rights in place - it’s not time off all the time.

You do need to be prepared for this and of course if lots of people are off the strsss on the manager will be immense

these systems are there to help us but we also need to recognise the costs and be mindful

so YANBU to take the leave but yabu to not recognise the position and stress that places on others and you would be unreasonable if you don’t start to think about emergency plans - when you can’t take the day off or where you are in hospital yourself

I helped my friends over the school holidays, but I would never look after a sick child. The reason is simple — I didn’t want to get sick and miss my part-time job. My child needed to stay healthy and not miss school, and my husband had to work.

Take a deep dive into local childcare resources. You’ll need to contact child carers and babysitters. Unless you live remotely there should be local help available. Ask at work what others have for paid childcare. It’s difficult to build a support network as it invokes time and planning but it’s definitely achievable.

Take her in with you at work and look after her there, make her lie on the floor if needed to rest and let everyone at work know your boss forced you to come it so you didn’t have a choice and make your boss feel guilty. Makes me mad the lack of understanding from employers for parents. So greedy and selfish they are.

I have always said that my children come first. Luckily, I have a great manager but OP, it is not your fault that there are others off sick and that your work can't cover it. Look after your daughter and don't feel guilty.

Well its you that's living on another planet. I can wfh now, but would have stopped off, as would dp. I also had my parents/in laws and my nan. So I have a network. I know people that don't and would never in a million years call a random person to babysit their young, sick child.

I sympathise with Op's position and think she should hold firm for PL but I don't think you can expect s sitter you've never met before to care for your sick child.

To be honest, peoples opinions on this about getting a babysitter etc don’t really matter. What matters is the law. Emergency parental leave is for just that - unexpected emergencies. You’re entitled to it for a reasonable amount of time which isn’t set in law as a specific amount of time, but 1 or 2 days most employers would considerable to be reasonable, sometimes longer if something serious has happened (which it doesn’t sound like it has), but after that your employer is within their rights to expect you to get back to work or you will need to take unpaid leave/annual leave to cover your absence.

You need to use the time you have today to find alternative childcare arrangements for your child, ie family/friends/external childcare etc as you have a commitment to work and if you can’t find that cover you need to let your employer know asap. It’s not nice, I’m a mum too so I know how challenging it is when they are ill and you need to juggle both, but unfortunately that’s life.

That being said, it’s not your problem other people are also off sick and that should have been kept quiet. I would imagine after receiving several calls this morning from several members of staff your manager just let her emotions out really without thinking and sighed a bit prematurely whilst hanging up.

Did you?

Exactly but many here think that single parents don’t need such a network and/or it doesn’t exist.

Do you leave your 4 year old old with a stranger when they are ill?

Tell me! Another women should stay at home poster…

I had an lady - a neighbour who used to babysit for me when mine weee small and would sit with a sick child for me if I had to to work. I paid her well and the kids were fond of her . You need a network, barring one day emergency leave a sick child is not your employers problem

A good babysitter will have regular clients to look after. If a babysitter is suddenly available to care for a random sick child, it’s a red flag and may not be safe to leave your child with this person

You speak about yourself in your first question. I’ve not bothered to read the rest of your drivel.

Is Mars nice this time of year?

Absolutely agree that it’s a nonsensical viewpoint.

However - it’s not the employer’s problem. It’s a problem the employer will want you to solve, basically.

I’ve just googled ‘local babysitters’ and there are none here so again what is someone supposed to do? There is not some huge list of people sitting waiting by the phone to drop everything on one days notice and spend the day cleaning up some random child’s vomit.

And if they don’t? Single parent, no family nearby?
And how would you know whether it’s a runny nose or something worse?

I wouldn't take it personally OP. She's probably just stressed at having to find cover for the day (on top of other people being off as well - I wouldn't envy her position on that day!) and she didn't hide it well over the phone. Don't do or say anything as you've done nothing wrong.

This isn’t about Covid times. Have a look locally and these child carers exist.

But would those people just sit around and wait in case OP’s child gets sick?
Surely they’d more likely to be engaged elsewhere at such short notice.
So it would have to be some random babysitter from an agency (if at all).