Am I being unreasonable? My husband and I both work full time and our au pair works 4 - 5 hours a day, dropping the children at school and then picking up and looking after until around 6 each evening.
Last week 2 of the children were ill, on different days, and we asked if she would look after them during the day for the hours when my husband couldn't (he works from home but I'm in a pressured office environment where it's really frowned upon to take time off)
We felt on the one hand, the children come first so her language school was a lower priority (she didn't want to miss lessons), and we checked with her that she would not lose any money as she would be able to make up the sessions at a later stage - she said that wasn't a problem.
She was clearly unwilling but she did miss the sessions to look after the kids and I feel really conflicted about it... were we unreasonable?
They will almost certainly need another day or two off school. Should I take leave? On the one hand I really feel I should, especially if they are both off ill; as their mum it's important that I'm there for them. Plus I don't want to alienate the au pair to the extent that she leaves!!
Any advice about usual protocol gratefully received