Nannying and covid19

[YellowBlueDaisy]

I work as a nanny. One of them is a doctor and they maintained that I'm an essential worker because one of them is a doctor. The other worked from home. They have a child with special needs. The work from home parent never would ha e been able to work from home if it wasn't for me. I continued to go to work during the lockdown.

The reassured me in March that if any of them showed signs of respiratory illness they will let me know and they will isolate themselves and they won't require me and I could also isolate myself.

This morning I went to work and I got a weird smell in the hall. The smell was of sick I thought. It was of sick covered in talcum powder. There were more signs of sickness over the course of the morning. The sick bowl drying on the kitchen dish rack. The utility room filled with laundry drying mainly loads of towels a d some bed linen. The bed line was changed on beds last week and I got bedlinen washed over the course of the week last week, so to see more bedlinen washed is a give away for me.

I rang the mother and she is told me the youngest was sick over the course of the weekend and she is maintaining its not covid.

I don't have any ppe to keep me safe in my job.

If it makes any difference, I'm in Ireland where the virus is suppressed and yesterday there was only 3 new cases of Covid19 confirmed. I'm also not in a hot-spot.

I do see more carelessness within my work and family circle with the guidelines.

I’m not sure what you’re asking tbh.

Child has been sick.

That’s very unlikely to be a covid symptom, so they didn’t need to isolate according to the guidance in England - is it different in Ireland?

Nannies routinely look after children through minor childhood illnesses without PPE.

"Nannies routinely look after children through minor childhood illnesses without PPE".

That is different. More than likely many nannies would have been exposed to many childhood illnesses and have immunity to many of them either through sickness or through vaccination themselves. For instance, I can think of chickenpox as one example.

We have a novel coronavirus to deal with now. A new contagious illness.

My understanding of children and the coronavirus, they show symptoms differently to adults. There was a sick child in the house over the weekend and they did nothing to let me know or to help me in case it is coronavirus.

Well I suppose they could have told you - I’d tell our nanny if the children were sick. But it’s incredibly unlikely that his only symptom would be nausea, or that he’d have Covid at all given current low rates in your area. I’m still not sure what you’re asking tbh. Do you think they should have let you stay home to avoid any risk of catching it?

We have public health guidelines where anybody with even a cold has to take themselves out of circulation and isolate themselves or at least reduce movements in public and with others.

The CMO of the health service said that the days of going into work with a cold are gone. That's what he said.

I know I don't have a cold but there was sickness in the house at the weekend where I work a d they should have told me and what they are doing forcing me into continuing with my days work is beyond me. The husband who works from home is going golfing for the afternoon.

I woke to a message this morning asking me to work on laundry today and do 2 laundry loads from the parents basket. I'm working for a woman who can't even manage to peel her own underwear away from her trousers and she wants me to separate her laundry and do two laundry washes for her.

I was taken on to mind her children and the woman is utterly confused as to what my duties are. Imagine peeling away another persons dirty underwear from their pants. What the fcuk was she doing over the course of the weekend herself.

They have now put me into the firing line of picking up infection and they don't care.

Well you need to be clear with her on what your duties are.

If you weren’t hired to do adult laundry then don’t do it - reply to her message saying that’s not part of your job and you’re not comfortable doing it. If your job is solely childcare and caring for the child then remind her of this.

But I don’t believe they’re obliged to isolate or to warn other people to stay away if the only symptom is sickness.

Maybe your genera dissatisfaction with the role is making you more annoyed about the sickness? Is it definitely the right role for you?

You need to separate the issues.

First what are your duties. Adult laundry duties are generally outside scope of a pure nanny role unless agreed. So discuss that calmly.

Second the child has vomited. Yes they should have mentioned it but I doubt they deliberately kept it from you. And this isn’t covid symptoms. So no reason you can’t work. Whether your male boss chooses to go play golf is neither here nor there.

The way you speak about your bosses through quite frankly comes over with such disdain. May I gently suggest give your head a wobble, calm down and have a grown up conversation With them.

Agree with other posters.
Adult laundry is not a nanny job. What does your contract say for list of duties. If you agreed to it when you took the job then you need to continue. Do you have a childcare qualification? Does your nanny insurance cover you for doing adult washing , ironing. I would never do adult washing to be honest.

Re Covid , doing laundry does put you at risk of exposure to the virus.
You should have a risk assessment for Covid which should address this task.
You should wear an apron that you take of after handling laundry and can wash at a high temperature, you should wash your hands immediately after touching dirty clothes, bedlinen etc.
Re the sickness the symptoms of a Covid are not just a temperature and a cough , vomiting can be a symptom for some people. But equally it could be a gastroenteritis virus. Parents are often very selfish and don’t consider a nannies wellbeing. They should have told you so you could be aware and maybe avoid cross contamination from the washing, surfaces and child. But it is a nannies job to care for sick children too. I would open the windows , air the rooms, clean surfaces with a bleach solution, ensure the bed linen has been washed at a high temperature eg 60 degrees to kill the bacteria/virus.
But you are very rude about your employers and seem to have no respect for them. They can do what they like at the weekend.
When you take a nanny job you have a contract that sets out your duties. If the parents have not had a nanny before you gently explain nanny duties. You care for the children and anything pertaining to them. You should have a childcare qualification and be mindful of child development and early childhood education. You can then provide play and learning opportunities to enhance their development.
You are respectful of the parents and try to have clear communication with them.

🙄 if you don’t like the job, quit.
Please don’t expect to be paid not to work.

Sounds like child /family had a sickness bug

Not a risk of Covid

Would have been nice for them to tell you

But nannies go in and look after sick children

A huge diff between nursery /cm and a nanny

Washing their /parents clothes isn’t on if not in duties

And def not handling their underwear

Do you have a contract and duties in it

How long have you been with family. Are you happy

@YellowBlueDaisy

This doesn't make much sense to me

"I woke to a message this morning asking me to work on laundry today and do 2 laundry loads from the parents basket. I'm working for a woman who can't even manage to peel her own underwear away from her trousers and she wants me to separate her laundry and do two laundry washes for her."

I have been confused by your posts and thought you said that there was nothing better than doing the laundry.

Anyway, it might be wise to have a chat with your doctor? You know with the sickness/covid/exageration/ghosting/etc etc I am actually starting to worry about you know and have spent my coffee break thinking you may need a referral. Sending a bunch of flowers - started out thinking what strange thinks you post and quite judgemental and now I am just worried for you.

now not know..... I need to have a real coffee break and stop worrying about someone that makes no sense at all