What do you do when DC sent home sick from nursery?

[Cheesypizzaa]

Little one has just been sent home with a temperature for the second time (been at nursery a month). I've recently started a new job and just wondered what the norm is, especially for people who wfh or hybrid work. Annual leave? Unpaid leave? Or just hope for a long nap and whack them in front of Miss Rachel while you keep an eye on your inbox?

When they were that little, annual leave if I had any, unpaid leave if not. But if I was able to do a little bit of work from home I would to show willing, and it meant over time my manager became more flexible with the leave I had to take when DC were ill as she could see I was trying.

If you can wfh / keep eye on in box / catch up when they are sleeping.

My LO was hospitalised a couple of times so no wfh option, my employers were OK about it and gave me paid special leave.

But chickpox and normal bugs I end up wfh / spread my hours out.

What's the nursery's policy? Ours is they will give them Calpol for 2 days and on the third day if they still have a temperature, they get sent home.

It depends on your company and how flexible your manager is, we're lucky with ours as we got the time off to look after him (didn't need to book any time off).

Has depended for me on the job and the child.

If the child will sleep for most of the day, I will let my boss know and WFH, finish up in the evening if needed.

If they are likely to need a lot of attention, annual leave

If you have just started a new job (still in probation?), probably better that your DH takes the time off when they are sick

If they're actually unwell then I'd install them on sofa with snacks in range and TV on and just carry on (we both WFH so between us we can manage pretty well). Whenever DD1 has been unwell enough to not be at nursery, she's usually just wanted to lie on sofa and sleep on and off, so it wouldn't be that disruptive. If it's something that requires regular intervention then DH would I probably juggle between us depending on who is busy with what and just utilise breaks and stuff. It helps though that we work generally opposite shifts; he works 8-4 and I work 2-10 or 4-midnight so other than a small crossover time if I'm working early shift and he's out on site visits as he tends to work later then, we can manage everything else.

I think you can be lucky or unlucky with nurseries too. Some are very strict in their criteria for sending home whereas others are more pragmatic.

(And also depends on how lucky or not lucky you get with your child's reaction to illnesses. DD1 doesn't get temperatures. At all. Even when she had scarlet fever, her temperature was only elevated for her, and only I knew that as I know what her norm is as it wouldn't be classed as a temperature. Whereas her friend at another nursery gets a temperature when a germ even looks at her, so she's always being set home and is generally fine in herself, just the way her body reacts to anything!)

That's a really good point, and where possible I think that's what will happen. My office is 10 minutes up the road though whereas his is in central London so not as easy to get back from.

We're both WFH this afternoon with no meetings (TGIF) so easy enough to juggle between us, but just got me thinking about inevitable future sickness and what the usually approach is.

So interesting! My DD is currently laughing her head off and crawling around the lounge happily! Hopefully tiring herself out ready for a long nap...

I normally tell my boss my child is sick, ask for a half day’s leave and say I’ll WFH in chunks within that day when I can to keep on top of things. He’s fine with this (think he’d rather I do some work than take a whole day off). It does eat into my holiday allowance though - nursery is so awful for kids sickness.

Generally split the day between me and DP and try to get some hours in, then make up the rest in evenings/weekend/day off. My employer is fairly flexible – they know if parents have to use all their annual leave on DC sickness and have none to take for themselves, they’ll burn out. We also get 4 days per year to take for child sickness – so something more intense that we wouldn’t be able to work around with the kid on the sofa, or if it’s a bug that goes on longer than the usual 24 hours. Or That Awful Time We Got Noro One After the Other.

DH gets a family leave allowance every year (I think quite a few public sector organisations have this) so generally he picks up and looks after them using family leave as a default.

When kids were little we found both of us WFH worked quite well, as you say OP you can juggle DC between you. Now they are little older just one of us can WFH and catch up a bit in the evening (if the the illness is fairly minor).

I get 6 days paid special leave a year for this kind of thing, so sometimes will just 'spend' one of those, especially if DC are very ill.

I've always been very careful to avoid offering to use my annual leave to cover child sickness, I would do it if other options were exhausted, but all its too easy for managers to just ask you to take holiday rather than exploring other options.
(I'm public sector though, appreciate not all employers/roles are the same on this)

I would if not seriously ill:

Ask a family memeber to go, collect have etc.
Ask DH
Ask a friend - have a network of 2-3 mummy friends, I would also do same for them
Then go myself, take annual leave or wfh

Most of the time when my kids were sent home from nursery with a temperature they were fine after some calpol.

I used to collect them, drop them at my Mum's house and go back to work (I appreciate I was lucky to have this option)

This although OP may be a single parent

I panic, mostly, because we have no one else who could step in. And it always happens when I am up to my eyes in it at work.

I can do a bit of work from home but DC is 3.5 so it’s a bit full on and there is no nap time (unless he is properly unwell). DH cannot work from home.

Luckily I have a flexible employer & a great team who can usually pick up any slack. And then I catch up when DC are asleep.

It would depend on the day, but Dh and I would probably juggle between us. He’s self employed so largely works when he wants to. If he needed to do something, I’d have them. Then we’d swap off, especially if I had meetings or something urgent. I work flexibly anyway so have only rarely used AL, as my employer would rather the work gets done than I do it without a sick child in tow. More than likely I’d work more another day or just move things around.

I think a lot comes down to your own boss and working relationship. The paid leave I've had has been at "managers discretion".

But if I can I'd rather work, and keep a hold of that goodwill for the times I REALLY need it.