To take my 2 year old to work tomorrow?

[IceCreamMum]

I’m a single mum and I don’t have any other choice as the childcare I had arranged for tomorrow has just fallen through now. I don’t know how my boss will react to me just turning up with DD, I can’t ask him as he’s not answering his phone and he won’t see my email until tomorrow morning when it will be too late anyway. I’m a member of senior management (Head of Department at a Zoo) and unfortunately I can’t work from home tomorrow, I have to be on the site tomorrow one way or another due to work commitments. Would I be unreasonable to take DD to work with me tomorrow? I don’t have any other option whatsoever and I also don’t have anyone else that I can ask for childcare this late either.

Can you get someone re Sitters.com or Bubble to come to the zoo and entertain your child there? Have a look for Facebook groups for your area for childcare/nannies too. Most areas have one and you might be able to get someone that way.

As a teacher myself, it's obvious a primary school is a completely different environment from an office especially from a H&S and safeguarding point of view.

You must know you can't do this. Your workplace definitely won't be insured for staff to have children alongside them while they work.

As head of a department you presumably manage staff. How would you feel if they turned up with toddlers because their childcare had fallen through?

Not the point. That's not what people go to work for. And 2 y o are not known for staying quietly in prams - mine were into everything at that age and DS2 in particular ran us ragged! A baby dragon might have been easier 😂

There's often no one who can step in for senior roles - that's the nature of the role. Obviously if someone left or died they would find someone new but it would be a case of trying to recruit someone with particular skills and experience - not just any warm body.

And arranging meetings might involve coordinating several people from far flung destinations, maybe some have come from abroad. It might be very expensive and high stakes. You can't necessarily just postpone it by a day.

As someone said earlier, do not dump your child on the support staff, it’s really unfair.

Do you have a nanny agency near you ? You can contact early in the morning for emergency care.

In the 90's l worked in an office there were always children there for various reasons, we mainly made them file and photo copy🤣 my daughter was a terrible child when she was excluded from school l took her to work, l guess it's not that easy to do that these days.

Agree 2 y o is probably the worst age for this scenario!

Lots of people welcome a bit of diversion at work though - lots of people love kids too!

Yes - also the health and safety issues of having a two year old in a workplace could genuinely leave the company legally liable. No way would any sensible company agree to such a huge risk nowadays, instead of just cancelling a meeting and having the person take a day's leave

But even then you could make arrangements.

She could remote in via zoom to the meeting.

@Teenagerantruns I remember going to work with my mum a few times, but when I was like older primary age and I would read or do my own thing. I would mind less if it was an older child to be fair, but little ones need constant watching and there's more risk with them. Putting things in their mouths, knocking into stuff, etc.

@IceCreamMum maybe text message - as response times can be different. Especially people that get either a tonne of messages or only a few!

I don't see how you can both work and fully supervise her? Unless you have a PA or similar who could be responsible to an extent, but even then it's not really their remit.

PA’s have lots of PA-type work to do.

I don't think it's fair to just expect a 2yo to be put with someone they've never met for a whole day....and how could a parent trust someone they have only just met either?! Clear DBS checks don't necessarily mean someone is a responsible and caring person, and you wouldn't know what they were like til they turned up! :-/

OP you have no choice by the sounds of it but to take the day off.....or call in sick.....it's not fair on your workplace OR your daughter at her age to try and combine work and home life...it's not possible at that age and very inappropriate to take her with you.
Work will have to wait (and I say that as someone in a high pressure sector job...but sometimes life happens and these issues are part of having kids)

Silly idea because:

-You would not be able to do any work while looking after a child

-It is completely inappropriate to bring your daughter in a work environment

-Your employer is also not insured to cover having random kids in a place of work
-This would be very distracting and unfair for your colleagues.

Tell them you need emergency leave or call in sick.

Penguin department, yes. Lion department, no. HTH.

One of my team turned up today with his 3 month old baby for similar reasons - and only for an hour or so till her mum could pick her up. Was fine. A 2 year old who runs around and requires constant attention - no. You need to take a day's holiday.

Go to work with child and ask the CEO ... s
shpuld I stay or should I go (Song title?) ?

Plus I'd imagine in a zoo you've got a health and safety issue with a 2 year old you presumably won't be able to look after if you're working.

If you were hit by a bus tomorrow, they'd manage. Taking a toddler into work can only result in you not performing your role, or your colleagues being forced not to perform theirs while they care for your child.

I’m just messaging a few more colleagues now to see if I can find anyone that can have DD during my meeting.

I think I’ve come up with a plan for tomorrow now. If I can find a colleague to have DD during the meeting then I will just do the meeting and then spend the rest of the day taking DD around the zoo and then back to work as normal on Thursday.

Obviously that’s subject to approval by my boss though who hasn’t got back to me yet, it’ll probably be the morning now when he gets back to me, I’ll have to make sure he’s happy with me just coming in for the meeting tomorrow instead of the full day.

Has everyone here missed the fact that OP works in an actual Zoo? Vaguely possible that she works in an admin-type role but probably unlikely. And I'm presuming that no matter high up the hierarchy OP works it won't be at the salary that lesser mortals earn for shuffling digital admin around.

OP, take a deep breath.

You do not have to go to work tomorrow.

The world will continue to turn if this meeting does not go ahead, no matter how important it seems from here. What would you do if your DD was rushed to hospital at 8am?

Your colleagues are intelligent people and will find a solution. Perhaps they will cancel the meeting. Perhaps they will go ahead with it and put the agenda items that need your sign-off on hold until you are available. Perhaps another key person, without whom the meeting doesn't have much point, will wake up tomorrow with Covid and not be able to make it, and the meeting will be cancelled anyway.

This is what I hated about having young children in the UK. Everyone was soooo child intolerant and not family friendly. Presumably if the OP is in a senior position (in an effing zoo, FGS), she has the experience and intelligence to assess whether her dd is manageable in the situation. It's not like she's going to work on an oil rig for a month and proposing to bring her child along. It's a zoo where one might safely assume, thousands of children visit every day, so hardly a H&S issue. The rigid thinking that's being expressed in this thread is a great part of what is wrong with the world.

Just stick her in a sling when you're feeding the tigers 😉