If nursery or childminder called to say you need to collect your child

[kevintheorangecarrot]

Due to illness / diarrhoea etc, how long is appropriate for them to wait? My husband and I work 45 minutes away and a while ago it took me over an hour to collect him because there was flooding so I couldn't get the train and had to wait for a taxi. Another time, my husband cannot just up and leave work (long story as to why) so he has to wait til he finishes which is usually in 2 hours or so, then another hour to travel if there's been no delays that is! We have nobody else to collect our child as we've moved to an area where we haven't got any family around. I do feel like it is taking the piss but what else are we supposed to do? We could move nearer to our work but the area is very, very expensive (think London for example) and there's no way we'd be able to afford to buy a house there, let alone a rent.

In my school sick kids go to the medical room are assessed then wait on a bench until picked up if they need to go home. They are watched by office staff but no one else. In a school of 500+ we have 4 support staff, so a really sick child who isn't picked up fairly quickly can have major repercussions for other kids learning.
You would be surprised the number of kids sent in ill, even when parents are informed children in class are on chemo etc, they still do it.

Falcor40
Those threads happen all the time.

There's a camp of people who seem to think that their child is exempt from all the health warnings about sickness so send them in to infect everyone else.

No school wants poorly sicky children in it. They don't want them keeping off for the snuffles but common sense and health advice says keep them off if they have been sick.
It's almost like some people have children but seen surprised that their plans might have to change when they get poorly.

I chose a nursery in the town I worked in rather than lived in. That way I was less than 10 minutes to get to DS

oblada
in the real world, normal parents do consider their child being sick and vomiting an emergency. Because they care about their child. Leaving a vomiting child sitting down in the hall with a sick bowl or stuck in the school loo for hours because you don't feel like rushing back to pick them up, it's disgraceful.

I'm a SAHM mum and I couldn't be at school in 10 min even if i was at home, dressed and ready to go as it takes me longer to get there!

Not to mention I might not be at home at all etc etc.

@justin has anyone said they wouldn't rush back because they don't feel like it??

drspouse
read the thread and the poster I was replying to

@JustInCaseCakeHappens

Actually I wouldn't treat it as an emergency if I heard my son was vomiting at school. Would I leave work straight away and go and collect him, yes I would.

However an emergency to me is an accident where he is being rushed to hospital. Life or death stuff. Stuff that would make me run out of my work without closing my laptop down, probably with just my car keys without stopping to tell anyone and speeding back to him. That is an emergency.

Parent's need to learn to be responsible for their kids, and put them first. Yes, people have to work, but work nearer to school, find some other contact if they are ill. If two parents take work where one of you can get away for an ill child.

@devlesko

Yeah, because that's always possible for everyone. 🙄

Actually I wouldn't treat it as an emergency if I heard my son was vomiting at school. Would I leave work straight away and go and collect him, yes I would.

but .. that's what emergency means. You might save 10 seconds by not closing your laptop, I would still tell at least 1 person that I am rushing to hospital (because I have had!), but you are still dropping everything and rushing in both cases.

It's not what another poster was boasting about, and that's very sad.

@Falcor40 I was glad to have the conversation. I actually learned a lot here yesterday and while I was safe here in my ivory tower, working from home, while my hubby works 10 mins away, the school is on our doorstep and my children have no underlying medical conditions, I learned that other people have completely different situations that not only did I dismiss initially but I was totally oblivious to. Thanks to @Mia1415 for being so gracious and taking the time to explain to me and you for taking the time to notice Falcor.

I mean if you enrolled your child in school and said "no, there is no one to collect my child if they are unwell" what would they do?

They wouldn’t do anything. You can’t reject a child from a state school because the parents have the audacity to work 40 mins away. (I doubt it would make a difference in the private sector either, although they may be more likely to have a school nurse so actually better set up for illness.)

Justincase - I didn't say I wasn't bothered and wouldn't get there as quickly as I could but no I wouldn't drop everyone in the shit at work because of a usual childhood illness. I'd take the time to finish off the essentials before leaving. I'd leave as soon as I could but I wouldn't run out within seconds the way I would for an actual emergency. It means, with traffic, I could take up to 2hrs (worse case scenario) to get there. Tbh my nursery clearly agrees with my approach: whenever they've called for a kid being sick and not managed to get hold of me/husband, they have left Voicemails on our phones/tried again in a bit rather than going via work direct, which they would in an actual emergency. If we didn't respond within a couple of hours or so I'm sure they'd ring work but it never happened.
As it stands I can work from home at the moment so I could leave work within minutes of being called most of the time and finish off at home but I was just speaking in general terms.

Pp suggesting we all decide where we work based on where school is... that's not quite how it works in the real world...