Sick child babysitting service

[ClawsandEffect]

Just struck me this morning at the school gate (sick child having to go to school because parents couldn't get time off work) that there might be a niche market for in-child's-home babysitting for unwell children.

Obviously would have to be DRB'd individuals.

Just made me feel bad for the child this morning, who looked as if they needed to be on the sofa with a blanket.

What suggestions do you have - not everyone has available family to call on .

yes, what did you do when this happened to you @AhMh67?

This is why people with more than one child choose a nanny. With the extra little things that a nanny does, like taking children to and from school clubs, prepare food for children, children's laundry, and look after sick kids.

‘They’ really don’t!

Depends on what the kid has, though I’ll agree a nanny would be more likely to cover a child sick day than childcare options with more than one family.

But most families with a nanny wouldn’t keep her on once into the fulltime school years.

(and most families with more than one child don’t use a nanny, BTW, they use funded hours at a nursery or childminder)

I can’t imagine being left with a stranger if I was unwell as a child, think it would be awful and wouldn’t have dreamt of it with mine

Strange to say you can’t get time off work when your child is ill, it’s not really a question you just say I can’t come in today my child is unwell and can’t attend school

If you've never had pushback from an employer you've been very lucky.

I've worked in lots of locations and while most places have been OK it's not unusual for hostility in relation to time off with children.

Quite. A VERY privileged (tone deaf) perspective.

Probably only the top 5% of the population can do this. Read the room.

Jeez you’ve worked for more lenient people than me!

You'd be passing on the germs from the last sick child you babysat!

Looking after an ill child is a huge responsibility. I look after my dgs when he’s too sick for nursery. I also do 3 days childcare for him every week. I’m a retired nurse/midwife and looking after him when he’s ill is sooo different from when he’s well.
What if that sickness bug turns to sepsis? Meningitis?
That’s a huge load of responsibility to have if you don’t know the child.

I did this as a young nurse. I wasn't a stranger for long. Looked after the same children more than once. Often professional single parents. Not all can work from home

Catching things? So many people work with patients - no big deal.
Moved on from nursing but I think that a lot of modern nannies also care for their children if they are sick.
I was in London. I guess demand was/is higher than a rural village.

And wow you find yourself without a job in a time with loads of people wanting one!

Aren't nurseries giving out calpol these days?

oh ok I’ve never been sacked for my child being unwell but I suppose some people have awful employers

Suppose I must have it’s never been a big deal for anywhere I’ve worked

A lot of people wouldn't be able to follow through your attitude without finding themselves in a new situation.

So you have one adult going from home to home bringing contagious diseases between them?

Suppose I must have been lucky then, my kids were never ill often but no never had an issue when they was

A lot of children aren't that contagious really.

I'm not sure who told you that, but any teacher will tell you that it's not true. And that's only with kids well enough to be at school. Furthermore, there is no way of determining if they are or not. A child who is throwing up might just have eaten something or might have norovirus. A child with a sore throat might have strep. Many illnesses have an incubation period of up to a week and by the time the babysitter realises they have it, how many households will they have carried it to? And what chance would a child who is already ill have of fighting it off?

You are being dramatic for no reason. Quite often children aren't contagious just not fit for nursery or school.
Better staying home with a babysitter (which was free to decline the job) than going in nursery or school on paracetamol/ibuprofen which happens a lot.

It’s probably already come up, but I work for a nanny temping agency and 75% of my bookings are for unwell children. Mostly very young children who are off nursery though, as I presume children 5+ can probably just mooch around watching tv while a parent works from home.

There’s usually lots of babies with a temp, or who have hand foot and mouth or chicken pox, bad cough, I don’t mind working with these things. I have a strong immune system now with regards to most minor illnesses. Babies with ‘loose stools’- fine.

I HATE when I have on my booking form though ‘mildly unwell’ and no other detail, but you get there and it’s very obviously a D&V. I’ve left bookings straight away when this has been the case. At the very least give me the information beforehand and I can decline that booking and take another. So rude.

It can be hard when they’re very unwell and just want their mums and dads obviously but I’m very good at what I do, and a lot of time I’m there to hold the fort whilst they have an unavoidable phone call or meeting, then they finish up and take over, but lots of the time the children aren’t that poorly they’re just in an exclusion period from their usual childcare arrangement.

Nearly all these bookings come from people who have an emergency childcare provision through their work.

So the service definitely already exists, but I imagine if you don’t have the allocation through work it costs so much that most parents try to make other arrangements.