My workplace (public sector) has very generous policies for this kind of thing. As a manager, my honest feelings about it depend on a range of factors:
a) how good are they at their job generally? If I feel like they are a high performer, generally pulling their weight, generally willing to go out of their way to support others in the team, the odd day off to look after a sick child is no big deal and doesn't really affect how I see them. If they are poorly performing and/or if they are always straight out the door on the dot of 5, I wouldn't forbid them from taking time off for a sick child or anything, but it would be something added to my mental list of "they aren't suitable for a promotion"
b) are they sharing this with their partner or, as others have said, are they taking the "my man's job is just too important" type like. I think their job is quite important, obviously, because I think mine is too and I'm their manager, so that kind of attitude does irritate me. It also tells me that they aren't that interested in progressing their career.
c) are they generally sensitive to the demands of the job and how it intersects with their personal commitments? I.e. if their child is ill but they have a big really important deadline, do they make at least an attempt to work from home to help meet it? Or do they just say "sorry, child is ill, can't do it" and ditch me with it. Again, this is a general thing - if they never make any attempt to be flexible to deal with crises/sudden priorities, but always prioritise leaving on the dot, etc, that's a bigger deal.
d) how often is this happening? I know that parents can't help how often their children are ill but when it happens a lot (more than once every 2-3 months), it is disruptive and does lead to me not relying on them at work, which can lead to their more important work being given to other staff.
I would never say any of this to a member of my team - these are just unvarnished reactions.