Hellobee Boards Topic: The downside of one primary childcare provider

Hellobee Boards Topic: The downside of one primary childcare provider https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 16 Apr 2026 06:33:20 +0000 californiadreams on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1536432 Tue, 01 Apr 2014 10:54:25 +0000 californiadreams 1536432@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @mrsjazz: check out my recent thread about my nanny having breast cancer.....i feel your pain/frustration!! Our nanny found out about her cancer right after we hired her and has had constant doctor appts, etc. DH and I split the time and sometimes don't get paid at our jobs when we are off, but we pay her full salary, so that is frustrating too. I have also used up several vacation days which will suck when we want to take a real vacation. I did have a couple of part time babysitters from last summer that have been able to help out, so i definitely recommend getting backup. mrsjazz on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530478 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:51:21 +0000 mrsjazz 1530478@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @sunny: I am looking into them. I just don't know if I want LO to go somewhere foreign to her. I would rather have a SAHM with a child near LO's age who wants to take make some extra money occasionally because at least we could arrange play dates for LO to get comfortable. I've seen some advertise on my neighborhood listserv so I'm going to look into that. mrsjazz on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530474 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:49:42 +0000 mrsjazz 1530474@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @plantains: We do want to switch to a center but not until she's 3. It's a great situation except for this and the long walk to the other family's home. And I do want LO to have more little friends. @cascademom: Damn. I forgot about Good Friday! She took off last year, too for that but I may take off since LO's birthday is that week. Mrs. Jump Rope on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530459 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:39:21 +0000 Mrs. Jump Rope 1530459@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I have a college aged girl who watches Chloe in the summer, and we expected her to take a vacation. We talked plans ahead of time & had our schedules worked out without no issues. In her replacement, we hired an older woman (50s) to watch Chloe in our home. I made my expectations very clear -- days and times -- and while we never had a tardiness issue, there were lots of issues in the winter. She was sick a lot and would text me shortly before she was supposed to arrive and say she couldn't make it. I get sickness, but she is on Facebook and I could see that she wasn't actually sick. She took her teenaged son snowboarding! She was fired. sunny on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530456 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:38:37 +0000 sunny 1530456@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Are there drop in backup centers you can take your LO to? I know its not ideal since your LO doesn't know the environment/teachers but it might work if you're in a real bind. In our area Bright Horizons offers drop in backup care but you need to register in advance and call the morning of to see if they have space. cascademom on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530452 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:35:55 +0000 cascademom 1530452@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We usually end up switching on and off of whose going to stay home with him for that day. We're already planning for Easter since we know that she takes off on Good Friday. We're both taking a day off and heading up to my parents' house on that day to make it easier on all of us. plantains on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530441 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:32:45 +0000 plantains 1530441@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I dealt with this exact same issue when we had a nanny. To be honest, I was never able to work out an ideal back up solution so moving to a daycare centre made everything so much easier. T.H.O.U. on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530429 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:26:40 +0000 T.H.O.U. 1530429@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Our center has a daily drop in rate. Maybe getting set up at a center for these situations would be best. Kimberlybee on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530425 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:25:23 +0000 Kimberlybee 1530425@https://boards.hellobee.com/ The nanny share that we used for my niece and nephew was amazing! She coordinated with her nanny group for any illnesses or family vacations. There was always someone there to cover for her. mrsjazz on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530411 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:22:15 +0000 mrsjazz 1530411@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @blackbird: That's a good idea. She does have some nanny friends in the neighborhood, one who covered a week for her while she was on vacation last summer. (We give her 2-weeks paid vacation but she took 3, so we needed the 3rd week covered). Mrs. Pen on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530410 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:22:12 +0000 Mrs. Pen 1530410@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I hear ya! My brother was sick several times this year - sadly not much you can do. I do have the number for a few babysitters I call in a pinch. One is actually homeschooled so she's been able to fill in last minute on more than one occasion and it's a life saver! My sister is half an hour away - in the opposite direction of work - but told me that she would take him if need be. The babysitter who has filled in last-minute has actually become a somewhat regular babysitter for us as well, so I don't feel so bad only calling her for last-minute things :) blackbird on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530406 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:20:45 +0000 blackbird 1530406@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We're at an in-home and T has only taken maybe a day off all year and she warned us in advance. Her husband calls into work sick before she bails on us! We do have back up (our Friday care lady) if we needed it. I have never had to do a drop-in on her, though. We do use her if T is on vacation or something like that. Does she have any nanny friends that can help her out, though? Seems like that would be a good "scratch my back, i scratch yours" situation. I just feel really comfortable knowing that if T is deathly ill, we have J. mrsjazz on "The downside of one primary childcare provider" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-downside-of-one-primary-childcare-provider#post-1530398 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:18:39 +0000 mrsjazz 1530398@https://boards.hellobee.com/ If you have a nanny, nanny share, or small in-home daycare, how do you deal with your childcare provider's sickness, personal appointments, and vacations? We are dealing with appointments and sickness and it's hard because DH is a teacher, so taking off is not simple, and I am at a job where I don't have a lot of time to take off. I had to get LO last Friday because our nanny was sick and I took her to work with me so I could finish up. This is not something I can do on a regular basis but I had a deadline and I work close to the nanny share while DH is an hour away. DH had to take off on Monday because our nanny was still sick. There was a funeral last month and some green card & health insurance stuff over the summer. It's not a ton, but it's very inconvenient because she's our sole provider. Next week she has a doctor's appointment in the morning and I just can't take off. Luckily, my mother has the day off and is going to come over to watch LO. Do you have back-up day care? Do you just split the time up? I am thinking that we need to find back-up childcare now. In my previous job I had SO MUCH time that it wasn't an issue.