To be pissed off at nursery constantly closing at short or no notice?

[AngeloMysterioso]

Not for the first time, I've just received a message from nursery, saying due to sickness they're having to shut DS2's room and I have to pick him up by 11.

I work nights. I had literally just got in bed when the message came through and was about to get 5 hours sleep before picking DS1 up from school. As it is I'll now have to go through until 2am with no sleep at all.

AIBU to be really fucked off that this keeps happening?

They'd call the next contact on your list (I assume most people have a 2nd + emergency contact)

Honestly you should have just ignored the message. Move nurseries my children have been in the same one since for over 13 years no gaps, it has never closed once. Edit other than covid lockdown obviously when they had to shut down.

I've genuinely lost count of the number of times this has happened.

I've had at least one of my children in nursery since June 2020 and this has never happened to me. And June 2020 was when they reopened after Covid so more likely to have had staff off because you still had to be off with symptoms until a PCR test came back negative. (Obviously more likely to have had fewer children as well though).

What if they say no? I used to be the contact for my friend, but I couldn't just disappear in the middle of the workday for someone else's kid.

While I think the nursery in this case is unreasonable to ask that kids are collected for staffing reasons, you aren't a suitable choice of emergency contact if you're not actually willing or able to collect the kid if it is needed.

It was in case the parents got delayed at the end of the day, when I'd have been relatively available. But presumably I might have been picked off the list. Even if you have a more free type of contact person they might still be on holiday or whatever. I just mean you can't 100% expect an emergency contact to be available.

I think you should look for a new nursery - my little one has been at nursery for 2 years and this has never happened!

Absolutely not OK.

Both mine did 12m-4 at nursery and never once did it shut (except during Covid).

I had two children go through nursery and never had a sudden closure due to staffing. I’d be very worried that they were a) running on the absolute minimum and b) don’t seem to have adequate contingency plans in place.

OP, what would happen if you said you were unable to pick DC up?

This should be a once every few years thing. I mean I work in education and I don't remember more than a couple of the team off sick at once, even when we had a manager who had long term serious health conditions and fairly long, regular sick leaves as a result.

The nursery are either running so close to their legal maximums that like one person off means they can't keep to ratios, or the place isn't hygienic so bugs are going round way too fast.