How to get children to and from school when sick?

[Kpea123]

Hi all.

I’m a single parent to an almost 4 year old. As I’m self-employed my dd goes to a childminder who picks her up early and takes her to nursery, and picks her up, dropping her home at around 5pm (she actually lives in the same street as me so it’s very handy). However, this is Mon-Thurs as the childminder has Friday’s off. I suffer with chronic migraine that is so severe that I’m incapacitated. In some cases my sight is badly affected and I get speech problems also. I was out in public when this happened last and it was an utter nightmare, when I say I couldnt see, my vision is 70% distorted, with giant black spots and fuzziness that leaves me a) panicking and b) incredibly vulnerable. Although very bad attacks happen once every 3-4 months maybe, I’ve just recently started to wonder what might happen if I’m too ill to take dd to school on the childminders day off. Right now nursery are more understanding but I know how strict schools are with attendance. If an attack like this was to happen I wouldn’t be able to do anything to even get my daughter ready for school, we would literally have to be in bed until it passes. I’m just wondering what the stance is on things like this really. I’ve lived in this area for 3 years now but have no family that could help and no friends that live nearby who could assist.

In your situation I would probably keep a purse with money for an emergency taxi there and back on the days when the worst has passed but you still feel disoriented.

Always have uniform laid out in a certain place and keep some special boxes of cereal to hand (ie a multipack) and a manageable amount of milk in a jug in the fridge and make it a priority to teach your dd how to do as much as possible for herself, in the morning. Obviously, you can support her in her routine, most mornings but, in time, she'll be less reliant on you on the mornings you're out of action.

Hopefully you'll get to know some of the other class mums, over time, and may be able to arrange to occasionally take each other's kids to school.

I know this sounds bad but I asked this question to my sister whose a teacher, I asked if im sick is it ok to give my kids a day off school and she said no it isnt and that the school would expect you to have help and if you dont its concerning.

I would say I am a Lp no family near by . Once my Ds started school I built up a list of people I could call on in an emergency. It was rarely used but have done it .

The school will ask for an emergency contact so it is worth thinking about who you might be able to call on - maybe a recently retired neighbour, another single parent etc. Once in the class you might have a parent's Facebook page or similar and people sometimes post requests on there for someone to drop off or pick up their dc. It helps if you are willing to reciprocate sometimes.

Make friends with DD's classmates parents. Extend favours and random kindnesses to them, because no-one wouid mind helping out someone they know and like when illness strikes.

Thank you for your messages! I think befriending someone seems like the only viable option really, doesn’t it. Unfortunately a taxi isn’t even viable when my vision goes, I know it sounds dramatic but the symptoms are similar to that of a stroke (migraine with aura comes with cognitive issues in my case) and I need to remain in a safe place. There’s no way I physically could leave the house alone in a taxi, let alone with my daughter. It’s a good idea to have everything laid out though for dd to get ready so she’s in a routine herself and knows where everything is.

I better get my school mum head on and start nattering to the parents! (Not always easy as I’m quite introverted!)

Make friends with other parents. I've got a good few I could call if this happened (OK, I'm not a lone parent, but you get the idea). I've picked up extra children from school when necessary.