I Am So Mad Right Now!!!

**cheerfuldom** · 08-23-2011, 08:35 PM

I'm sorry you are feeling sick and this is awful timing. I am guessing the parents reactions are due to the fact that you just re-opened. Perhaps they already used all their backup options to cover you during that time. In the future, you might consider figuring out a backup person to come to your house or provide some numbers to providers that take drop in children and that should soften the blow when things like this come up.

**countrymom** · 08-24-2011, 06:09 AM

I know that I have parents who would be angry. If your not feeling the best, then sit on the couch and let the kids play. Do you have an older student that you can call and help you out, like even a relative. I know when I don't feel good, my dd helps out, not changing and cooking, but keeping things in order or if there is a problem she helps out.

**Meeko** · 08-24-2011, 06:32 AM

I make sure that my parents know that if I am sick...I go into babysitter mode only. I'll make sure their kids are fed and changed and don't kill each other...but that's about it. They will play with toys or watch movies. No circle time, no art projects, probably no outside time either. If that's not acceptable, they can take the kids elsewhere or stay home with them. But only twice in 20 plus years have I ever closed at short notice.

**Jewels** · 08-24-2011, 06:47 AM

I would be upset if I was one of the parents to be honest, I also say go into babysitter mode, I had my wisdom teeth out two weeks ago, and none were in, so they were all impacted, and I got two dry sockets, and the only day I closed was the friday of the surgery, and everyone knew I wasn't going to be much good the next week, but I did hire my lil sister to come and help me out with all the cooking and cleaning. you just had a week off, and the timing ****s, if it were me since I had just taken a week off, I would have struggled through it.

**CheekyChick** · 08-24-2011, 06:53 AM

I have the nicest parents in the world. BUT, if I were to have just come off vacation and then closed one or two days - they wouldn't be happy. It's not that they wouldn't feel for me, but they would still be concerned what they would do with their children.

I agree with the others. Tell the parents you will stay open (for their convenience) but do the very, very, very, basic minimum. Just enough to keep the children safe/happy.

Get well soon. Being sick really stinks!

**Cat Herder** · 08-24-2011, 07:12 AM

Originally posted by Angelwings36

I texted everyone saying...

As it sits right now I am not feeling any better but I don't know how I will be feeling by morning. I don't want to say I'm going to be closed tomorrow until I know for sure whether or not I am in the condition to work with the kids but I doubt I will know that until morning. It is up to you whether you want to figure something out tonight just in case or wait until morning.

I sent this text for two reasons. 1) I want to give everyone a fair amount of time to find back up and... 2) I seriously can not afford to close unless I actually can not work!

You can't make your problems theirs anymore than you should allow them to make their problems your issue.

They need to know if you are open or closed. Nothing else.

You are a business, hun.

Even if you are sick.

So of the replies I got, three clients informed me that they are DEPENDING on me to be open tomorrow because they have no one else to watch their children...uh...I can't control when I'm sick!?

I think they were letting you know that they understand you are sick but need to know something DEFINITIVE so they can plan.

A wishy/washy "maybe" from someone I was depending on for childcare would get under my skin very quickly as well. Either you are sick or you are not, YKWIM?

One asked me to call her at 5am...uh...no I will not get up in the middle of the night to call you! WTH?? Another one responded with a text, "are you sick?" are you flipping kidding me?

I would have asked the same. Are you sick (closed) or are you open....PICK ONE. I would want to know NOW...not in the morning. She was being nice by giving you a 5am window. I would not have been. You can't take it personal, this is a client...not your friend.

I do not get paid for days that I closed due to an illness and I can understand that parents may be upset because it is literally right after my summer holiday...but seriously??

This was your personal business choice...please remember that. It is not fair to keep score of things you put into policy. If you think they should pay for sick days....make it happen. Otherwise you resent it, like right now.

I am now starting to run a fever...I feel like crying...screaming and quitting my job!!

What is wrong with people?

They are not "people" they are clients of a business who is trying to keep from losing income by not giving a definitive answer or whether they are open or closed.

They are annoyed and sitting in limbo...by a situation you created, hun.

I learned this myself over a family members slow death and subsequent funeral..I was crushed they did not put my needs first. I never planned for it because it never crossed my mind while making my contract. You can't make business personal no matter how intimate it may feel keeping someones child.

Look over your policies... Make some changes since this is obviously not working for you, OK?

Feel better soon!!

**Country Kids** · 08-24-2011, 07:14 AM

We have to all remember though-when all the children are sick in a week or so because of coming to childcare I can so bet the parents will all be upset again because the provider won't allow them to come to childcare sick per her contract. So either way they are going to have to either stay home with their child or find someone else and guess what they will all be mad at her again! So what do you do for that then?

**Angelwings36** · 08-24-2011, 07:23 AM

Staying open and going into babysitter mode right now is not an option for me. First off I run a full daycare which means I have 8 children total. Secondly I do not have anyone to come in and help me out, all my friends and family members have jobs of their own. Also all of my clients are well aware that I don't provide back up when I'm sick and that it's their responsibility to make sure they have suitable back up if I am sick and am unable to tend to their children. I also do not have a school aged child that could give me a hand.

At the moment I am running a fever, have a swollen, sore throat to the point that I can not talk on top of being weak, fatigued and dealing with cold chills!

Getting up out of bed to walk to the bathroom is a chore right now! Let alone making, serving and cleaning up after 8 lunches when I have not even had the energy to make myself breakfast yet.

I can understand where you are all coming from and with the help of my dh I remained open a full week last February with bronchitis even though I was given a doctors note to close for the week. This time I do not have the help to remain open!

At this point I don't even care if anyone is mad anymore. My health and well being is #1 and if clients want to drop out because I closed because I'm sick all the power to them, I really don't need families like that!

When I made the call back this morning to confirm that indeed I would be closed today not one complained and all wished me well. From now on I am not getting ahold of anyone the night before!

**Cat Herder** · 08-24-2011, 07:26 AM

Originally posted by Country Kids

We have to all remember though-when all the children are sick in a week or so because of coming to childcare I can so bet the parents will all be upset again because the provider won't allow them to come to childcare sick per her contract. So either way they are going to have to either stay home with their child or find someone else and guess what they will all be mad at her again! So what do you do for that then?

Enforce the illness policy consistently.

It goes both ways.

Some days you are the hydrant, some days you are the dog.

I agree, Country.. We, as adults, should have the same rules for being at daycare as the kids.

**Angelwings36** · 08-24-2011, 08:09 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Angelwings36
I texted everyone saying...

As it sits right now I am not feeling any better but I don't know how I will be feeling by morning. I don't want to say I'm going to be closed tomorrow until I know for sure whether or not I am in the condition to work with the kids but I doubt I will know that until morning. It is up to you whether you want to figure something out tonight just in case or wait until morning.

I sent this text for two reasons. 1) I want to give everyone a fair amount of time to find back up and... 2) I seriously can not afford to close unless I actually can not work!

You can't make your problems theirs anymore than you should allow them to make their problems your issue.

They need to know if you are open or closed. Nothing else.

You are a business, hun. Even if you are sick.

How did I make my problem theirs? I could not give them a straight answer as to whether or not I was going to be open 12 hours later. Just because I felt sick at that moment in time doesn't mean that 12 hours later I would still be feeling the same. I have had times when I was running a fever the night before and it broke while I was sleeping and I felt 90% better by morning. I was not making my problem theirs I was being honest. I also made it clear that if they were not comfortable waiting for a solid answer they could go ahead and find back-up right at that moment so they had a plan had I called in the morning to say I would be closed. I did nothing here but be completely truthful and provide them with a warning that I may not be open in the morning if things didn't shape up over night.

So of the replies I got, three clients informed me that they are DEPENDING on me to be open tomorrow because they have no one else to watch their children...uh...I can't control when I'm sick!?

I think they were letting you know that they understand you are sick but need to know something DEFINITIVE so they can plan.

A wishy/washy "maybe" from someone I was depending on for childcare would get under my skin very quickly as well. Either you are sick or you are not, YKWIM?

Again I could not give anyone a definit answer as to whether I was going to be open and healthy in 12 hours or not. When I called my clients on Tuesday morning to let them know that I was sick and would be closed they all asked me to give them a call that night and let them know how I was feeling. So I did but I still DID NOT know how I would be feeling 12 hours later.

One asked me to call her at 5am...uh...no I will not get up in the middle of the night to call you! WTH?? Another one responded with a text, "are you sick?" are you flipping kidding me?

I would have asked the same. Are you sick (closed) or are you open....PICK ONE. I would want to know NOW...not in the morning. She was being nice by giving you a 5am window. I would not have been. You can't take it personal, this is a client...not your friend.

If you are the type of person that needs to know 12 hours before the fact whether or not I am going to be healthy then if you were my client I would suggest you take the text as a warning and find suitable back up! Asking me to wake up at 5am to call someone is not nice it's completely rediculous!

I do not get paid for days that I closed due to an illness and I can understand that parents may be upset because it is literally right after my summer holiday...but seriously??

This was your personal business choice...please remember that. It is not fair to keep score of things you put into policy. If you think they should pay for sick days....make it happen. Otherwise you resent it, like right now.

I did not include this in my thread because I resent that parents are not paying when I'm sick, I do NOT resent not going paid for sick days! This was simply stuck in my thread to emphasize that it was not like I was just trying to extent my holidays by playing hooky. If I was getting paid for the sick days I could understand that but why would I play hooky when my pay check is going to suffer from doing so?

I am now starting to run a fever...I feel like crying...screaming and quitting my job!!

What is wrong with people?

They are not "people" they are clients of a business who is trying to keep from losing income by not giving a definitive answer or whether they are open or closed.

They are annoyed and sitting in limbo...by a situation you created, hun.

I learned this myself over a family members slow death and subsequent funeral..I was crushed they did not put my needs first. I never planned for it because it never crossed my mind while making my contract. You can't make business personal no matter how intimate it may feel keeping someones child.

Look over your policies... Make some changes since this is obviously not working for you, OK?

Feel better soon!!

First off I was not trying to keep from losing income by not giving a definit answer. I was asked to call that night and let them know how I was feeling so I did just that. I told them how I was feeling at that point in time no one can honestly expect me to know how I will be feeling 12 hours from that time! I could have been 40% better and would have opened this morning and worked through the end of my illness. And they were not sitting in limbo, they were given a warning that I may not be open the next day so they should probably make sure they have suitable back up lined up just in case they get the call in the morning.

And p.s. I don't need to make any changes to my policies thank you. My policies are pretty clear! When I am sick I'm closed and parents are expected to have suitable back up or stay home with their children if they don't. I do not get paid for sick days and this should give my clients the reassurance that I'm not calling in sick to play hooky! I also have a very strict sick policy for my dck's and I agree with the other poster who suggested that the kids would end up catching what I have if I were open and then in turn be discluded from daycare until they were healthy again...leaving parents even more upset!

**Cat Herder** · 08-24-2011, 08:35 AM

Originally posted by Angelwings36

When I am sick I'm closed

THAT was the problem.

The parents were upset because you contacted them BEFORE you decided you were sick....aka CLOSED. They just needed to know Open or Closed.

There is no such thing as "Maybe Drop-In Care". Once they arranged drop-in care, they have to pay for it.

Once they beg a family member or employer, they can't back out without looking like an arse. YKWIM?

You are taking my words as personal criticism instead of seeing the parents view as intended.

You can pick my post apart all you want but that still does not change the fact.

Getting defensive about it does not help prevent it from happening again next month.

If you wanted just to vent and take no advice, then you should have said that in the original post instead of shooting the messenger, IMHO. I never would have bothered reading or responding to that....

I do hope you get better quick. Get some rest.

**Angelwings36** · 08-24-2011, 08:40 AM

Originally posted by Catherder

THAT was the problem.

The parents were upset because you contacted them BEFORE you decided you were sick....aka CLOSED. They just needed to know Open or Closed.

There is no such thing as "Maybe Drop-In Care". Once they arranged drop-in care, they have to pay for it.

Once they beg a family member or employer, they can't back out without looking like an arse. YKWIM?

You are taking my words as personal criticism instead of seeing the parents view as intended.

You can pick my post apart all you want but that still does not change the fact.

Getting defensive about it does not help prevent it from happening again next month.

If you wanted just to vent and take no advice, then you should have said that in the original post instead of shooting the messenger, IMHO. I never would have bothered reading or responding to that....

I do hope you get better quick. Get some rest.

I contacted them before I 'decided' if I was sick or not because they asked me too, not out of personal choice! In all honestly all you did was attack my thread! And yes I was venting!

**MamaBear** · 08-24-2011, 08:44 AM

I think the only reason why your daycare parents might not be too happy about your closure is because of the timing of it being right after your vacation time. Next time dont give them an option... Just call them the day before and say "I'm sick and I have to close tomorrow"... period. When you give them a 'maybe...possibly' then they still have hope and of course they will bug you with texts asking whats up, so they know what to do with their child for the day. They need childcare and are counting on you, and if they are running on a "maybe" then they are still hopeful.

So I would say if your sick just CLOSE... no maybes, possibility or anything. Just close. If you do have a clear policy on your own sick days then they should understand.

I hope you feel better soon. Maybe try to get some sleep and try not to get riled up about daycare stuff.

**Cat Herder** · 08-24-2011, 08:45 AM

Originally posted by Angelwings36

I contacted them before I 'decided' if I was sick or not because they asked me too, not out of personal choice! In all honestly all you did was attack my thread! And yes I was venting!

Attack??? Seriously....:confused:

I related a hard learned lesson from my own personal experience for your benefit.

And that is an attack....:confused:

Well, you can unload on me all day if you'd like and if it helps you not take it out on a client and lose business.

I Am So Mad Right Now!!!

I Am So Mad Right Now!!!

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