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.

It takes an hour for anyone to get to our dc if we get called. There's nothing I can do about it. It would take to an hour, dm an hour and longer for me or dmil.

I have friends and neighbours who take the dc if it's a case if the school closing due to snow or similar, but I couldn't ask them to have a sick child.

I am certain that my wonderful childminder would take the dc if there was a huge emergency whether sick or not until I could get there.

I’m a childminder and expect children to be collected within an hour.
Obviously sometimes unforeseen things like flooding happen!

I would probably not take on a child if the parents worked 1+ hours away or couldn’t leave work, and they couldn’t provide a local back up.

All the people saying "get childcare to work" it's really not that easy.

Childcare closer to my work in the past would have been ,90-100 a day as I was based in London. We lived in Kent and local childcare was 50
We're not on big wages, anymore than that would have wiped us out

although this is not quite the same case - I would like to give an alternative view of why this is such a problem for problem for childminders.
I once had a dc I care for come to me & the dc vomited - I rang the parents & because of their circumstances they took time to come nb it was their first day of the week so the bug originated from their contacts.
A couple of days after I woke up & I & my son were both violently ill - I couldn't work (obviously) so it not only affected me (& my ds who was to young for nursery or playgroup & not great heath wise) it also affected my ability to look after other dc & please note I was fanatic about washing hands etc

*"get childcare closer to work" ah

So teachers and nursery workers send a four year old to hospital with just the ambulance staff? Rubbish.

Not rubbish. No spare staff in small schools. You may not like it but that's the reality of it. Happened several times when I was teaching. Parents phoned and told to meet child at the hospital.

Teachers can't abandon classes to escort children to hospital. They hand them over to the ambulance staff. They can't walk off the job any more than you can.

This isn't my experience from either my dc's school or my workplace - a member if staff would accompany the child until parents get there.

Depends on the commute. Many commuter towns have nurseries designed for London Commuters who have upwards of 2 hour commutes. These places open earlier, administer medicine, and offer parents the ability for a member of staff to either take the child to a local GP (or for the GP to come to them).

Not rubbish. No spare staff in small schools. You may not like it but that's the reality of it. Happened several times when I was teaching. Parents phoned and told to meet child at the hospital.

That sounds like terrible practice. My dc are in a tiny school with only 36 kids over 5 years. They still have planned for emergencies such as a child needing to attend hospital accompanied by an adult.

SaraclaraI don't doubt there are women too who can't leave.
But I would genuinely think that if people had jobs where that's the case then they'd factor that into their own childcare plans by having one parent available in situations where the child need collecting without the attitude on here of "if they're just throwing up they can sit outside the office with a suck bowl until I finish work".

Does it make you feel better about your life and parenting choices to spout things like this about others you don’t know?
Some of us care very much about our children and whether they are sick, but shock horror also have jobs which are life or death or otherwise EXTREMELY (as in life long impact) high stakes for other people. To borrow the example of a PP, should I leave that type of scenario to rush to school for a bruised finger?
All of that rant would be great, if I'd said people should drop everything and leave, but I didn't.
Or if I'd said parents don't care, but I didn't.
Or if I suggested dashing off for paper cuts, but I didn't.

I said that it's a bit much to decide one parent can't leave til the end of their day, which seems to be the blanket rule for the OP.. Children have two parents and more often than not on here it seems to alway be dad who has the job that can't possibly be interrupted.
It's not too much to expect that a child's parents make some sort of plan for inevitable common child issues.

Our nursery says an hour to collect. But they don't send home immediately or without cause. I work walking distance away, so it's not too bad.

So teachers and nursery workers send a four year old to hospital with just the ambulance staff? Rubbish.

ahem, I don't want to panic you, but that is standard?

Teachers have their class, TA are just about enough to deal with the smaller group (or individual child) they are employed to help, what spare personal do you think is around just in case?

You do know that schools are really struggling with budgets and staff?

My husband can get there within 45/50 minutes when needed. Emergency pick-up is usually me. But if they need to stay home, my husband has a more flexible employer so he will usually stay home until DS has the all clear.

That sounds like terrible practice.
no, that sounds like terrible lack of funding. That's the reality of the schools today (or most schools).

My experience with both small and large schools is like @Stompythedinosaur. They would never send a child on their own, even if it meant sending the school secretary or putting two classes in the hall.
For a start, many four year olds would get agitated and make themselves more ill if sent in an ambulance with no familiar adult!

I find it quite alarming that in a nursery or school environment there is literally no one that can look after a sick child in an emergency. What would happen if the nursery worker or teacher were taken ill? Who would supervise the children then?

A childminder would likely have to send a child alone in an ambulance if it was serious.

What would happen if the nursery worker or teacher were taken ill? Who would supervise the children then?

obviously another teacher, but you are talking about an entire class of 30 vs a single child. The child wouldn't be left alone, the paramedics would be with them!

It's not a imaginary scenario, it has happened! There's not always a spare adult and it's not that easy to leave 59 children with one teacher... or 89 children with 2 adults.

So teachers and nursery workers send a four year old to hospital with just the ambulance staff? Rubbish

Not rubbish. And "ambulance staff" are highly trained, DBS checked professionals perfectly capable of transporting a sick child to hospital. Not ideal, no, and in a perfect world someone the child knows would accompany them.

A childminder would likely have to send a child alone in an ambulance if it was serious.

They would be following in a car or taxi with the other children though. They couldn't send a 9 month old baby without any adult - for a start, the baby can't give their own medical history, tell the hospital doctor when the seizure started, or what the baby ate that morning etc.
Just as a parent at home with two children would send the baby in the ambulance but follow with another child if they didn't have backup childcare.

@drspouse the childminder could give any information they had to the paramedics.
I wouldn’t follow in a car as don’t have one, I’d call the parents to meet the child at hospital.

They would be following in a car or taxi with the other children though

would they? Would they drag several young kids with them to hospital and ask parents to collect them there? Really? Especially at the moment but not only?

Be realistic.

What if the childminder had 7 other children to care for? Of course you wouldn’t pile them all into a taxi.
Even if only 2 or 3 other children, I don’t have car seats for them.

It's not the staff at schools responsibility to accompany children to hospital. No you can't just sent a secretary or receptionist, unless it's in their contract.
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. Stop being so bloody entitled and expecting educational services to nurse your ill child because you can't be bothered to sort something out yourself.
If you really can't find alternative cover, find a job closer to home, make sacrifices for your children, they deserve parents who care.

Don't all childminders have a policy for this?

All the childminders I know work with others and if an emergency happened and the childminder had to take a child to hospital the children would go to another one and I've signed to say I am happy with this.

It has actually happened and my childminder ended up looking after additional children while another childminder went with a child to A&E.

At my son's school a staff member would go with a child if an ambulance was needed. You wouldn't just send a child off with the paramedics. What would happen when they got to hospital? Surely the school are responsible for their care until a parent arrives.