Two working parents and a sick child?

[odyssey2001]

So, ds (3.9) is going to school next September and this week has had his first vomiting bug, which means no nursery until he is 48 hours clear. We can manage it this year but we will both be working full time.

How do parents, with no local family and limited flexibility at work (one of us is a teacher, the other works in London in a very small team of two), manage child care when their child is off school?

Ta.

Its not specifically one day emergency leave. Its reasonable time to deal with the problem.so if your child had a week off with chicken pox, you could take 2.5 days off each. Although being part time presumably you don't work every day anyway.
Last year one of my dcs had 2 days off the other none. Illness may not be as bad as you think.

we have a fight discussion about who can take the day off.

or we work from home (we're lucky to be able to do this)

or we send them in slightly sick (not very often in the 16 years I've been a parent, but I'm sure there are times when they would benefit from a day at home, but we just can't do it).

or we phone in sick (in theory - not done that)

We have an au pair now so we ask her to do it. Who will be doing pick up for your son? It's also a possibility to pay them for more hours if they are available.

it's a nightmare, but we do what we can.

ShowMetheWonder that happened us in August - DH, DD2 and I both got a nasty fluey thing, which turned into bronchitis for DH and I. Then DD2 got an ear infection. It took about 3 weeks in all to work through us - only DD1 wasn't affected. And I probably got sicker than I should have as I just didn't/couldn't take time off until I was really bad.

You can get emergency nannies depending on where you live. Companies like Likeminders, etc.

Could you employ a nanny? Then you would really only need to take time off if your child has something really horrendous like d&v or worse. A nanny should be able to look after a child with a cold or conjunctivitis or something like that.

Must admit, when I switched to a nanny it all got a lot less stressful. They come no matter what.

Just as an aside: I do wonder how many fathers are agonising over this?

Why, oh why, is childcare always usually the mother's problem?
By which I don't actually mean to imply it ought to be the father's, either, it should be all of ours - society's.

We need children for the country to keep running and yep, kids get ill - stop the presses.
Makes me so cross. This ought to be a non-issue

for all of you who are going it on their own - I have no idea how you deal with the strain, day in, day out.