Child is sick, Mommy's at work... WDYD?

What do you do when your child is sick (and has to stay home from school/daycare) and you have to go to work?
Take a day off? (not an option for me, but may be for others)
Send child to school/daycare anyway? (which I wouldn't choose, just putting it here as an option)
Leave child with neighbor/relative? (not always an option for everyone)
Take child with you to work? (not an option for me, but may be for others)

Dd is running a fever, so I left her with my mother today. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do this on a steady basis and/or in the future. Just wondering what other working moms do in this situation.
_________________
"To err is human. To blame it on a computer is even more so."

That's why you need to have a handful of babysitters (ideally of various age) if you don't have family close by who can look after the child. In our case, I may be able to "work from home" if I don't have meetings that day. Or DH may be able to come home for a few hours. It's a close call, fortunately haven't happened maybe once or twice a week. If the child is sick, bringing him/her to the office or putting him/her to a playgroup/creche won't be a good idea.

im wondering why you couldnt take off from work if you ran out of babysitting options. you dont get sick days or vacation days? thats unusual.

Moderator Joined: Mar 29 2005 Posts: 18276

I don't get sick or vacation days, but I get paid by the hour. And when my child is sick, I take off. It's bdi eved enough that I'm working. At least when they need me even more than usual, I should be there for them.
_________________
http://a-natural-birth.com
Let me know privately what you would like to see on this; I'm still working on it Smile

Complimentary ad for being a mod

Posted: Tue, Oct 20 2009, 12:25 pm Post subject:

Moderator Joined: Mar 29 2005 Posts: 18276

A company can't fire you legally for taking off X amount of time to take care of your sick child. If they don't give sick leave, what do they expect you to do?

What does your husband do?

Also, how often do your kids get sick?!

Posted: Tue, Oct 20 2009, 12:36 pm Post subject:

Uh, I mean dd doesn't get sick often, not my mother (Mom doesn't get sick often either b"H, but whatever)

BH I have a job that is flexible in that I can work less hours (which means less $$$) or can work from home. In an extreme case, DH can take off of work so that I can go into the office (if I have a meeting or something). Actually, DH used to be the babysitter (he had flex time so he stayed home on the day that I worked) so it wasn't normally a problem. BH!!!

Platinum Member Joined: Jan 01 2006 Posts: 48141

Can you take a personal day ? or can dh?

or can you go to the office later, when your dh gets home ?

Posted: Tue, Oct 20 2009, 4:44 pm Post subject:

bh I have a babysitter in my home, so I wouldn't have a problem with it.

Gold Member Joined: Oct 06 2009 Posts: 1065

I would "not" take a job where I couldn't put my kids first. Flexibility in a job is a must for a mother. When a kid is sick it is the mothers job to take care of her. I wouldn't have where to send my sick kid to, nor do I think it is fair to dump my sick kid onto anybody else, regardless if it is y mother, sister or friend. I am a mother and I cherish my job regardless on how the kid is feeling. JMVHO

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 10 2006 Posts: 6561

Gold Member Joined: Oct 06 2009 Posts: 1065

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 10 2006 Posts: 6561

Posted: Wed, Oct 21 2009, 3:00 am Post subject:

After paying through the nose or taking sick days (allowed here by law) for three years, I finally convinced my boss that the best solution would be to trade in my desktop for a laptop and network access from home so in an emergency I could work from home.

Truth: I've been home with sick kids 5 times since then (September!) and only on one of those days was DS sick enough that he actually slept long enough for me to get any work done! My kids seem to get "sick" without getting sick...they're themselves, they just have a fever. Which is NOT conducive to getting anything done!
_________________
Emmanuel Tzvi: 26 Shevat 5766
Shai Michael: 8 Cheshvan 5768
Yitzchak Meir: 19 Iyar 5770
Dvir Aharon: 10 Tammuz 5772