Mindee has temperature of 38.5 - I think he should go home.

[Riddo]

He's 17 months, has a horrid cough, is subdued and snotty. Mum knows I don't take children with a high temperature. Neither parent is answering their phone. Am I being unreasonable to think he should go home?

They'd be much better off with a nanny as they seem to want/expect one to one care.

Some people have the knack of 'expecting' more than they are realistically paying for and making you feel guilty for not wanting to give it. I had to work hard to get over it and start standing firm.

Enjoy your snotty afternoon

I would also point out to them the seriousness of not being contactable. Unless they are surgeons or similar, one or other of them need to be contactable at all times if they have no other emergency contacts in this country. If they really cannot have their phones on them, they have to come up with a Plan B - and you are not it! What would have happened if their dc had fallen/become seriously ill and had to be taken to hospital? I suspect they knew exactly why you were calling and ignored the calls.

Even surgeons can be contacted. My CM knows that I can't always answer my phone but I've explained that in an emergency she should phone the hospital switchboard and ask them to page me. I think you need to ask the parents for another way to contact them in addition to mobile number.

It's damn selfish, if your child is ill they'll pass it on to the others.
I would always have my phone switched off when seeing patients, but give childminder/nanny/nursery my work phone number (switchboard) and that was the only time I could be disturbed.
Not everyone is going to be able to come immediately, but they should be able to sort something out within a couple of hours.

I think you need to ask the parents for another way to contact them in addition to mobile number.

This ^

There are very few excuses for being so hard to contact.

I've childminded for farmers, doctors, a dentist, a police officer, teachers and intensive care nurses. I've been able to contact every one of them easily if their child has been ill and needed to be collected. The only one I've been unable to contact quickly is an airline pilot.

If you phone someone's workplace and say you are their childminder, the person answering the phone generally pulls out all the stops to help you because they know the parent would want to know asap.