The Rundall family is not unlike many other families in Stapleton. They have working parents, and two young children at home, a four and a two year old. Two years ago, they weighed the pros and cons of whether to get a nanny or take their first child to a child care facility. “We decided we wanted our baby to be comfortable at our home,” said working mother Kelly. “If we couldn’t stay home with him, we at least wanted him to be in our house.” There were other reasons as well. “We liked the idea of having one on one child care,” said father Chris. “The child care facilities we looked at were great, but in the end, appreciated the idea that our child would be cared for by one person.”
The Rundall family has enjoyed having a nanny, but certainly has seen the drawbacks of having the child care responsibility in the hands of just one person. “Of course we give vacation time,” said Chris. “So, we have to accommodate for that. Then, they are driving to us, so of course, they can be late at times. But, the benefit of knowing they are in a controlled environment, our house, is a really important thing to us.” Things have changed recently for the Rundalls, however, as their nanny called in sick eight times last week. “It was extremely frustrating,” said Kelly. “We had to figure out a way for one of us to stay home, and the other to work, then alternate, or even do half days. It was really tough.” The Rundall’s nanny texted them on Sunday prior to the week beginning that she wasn’t feeling well, and it would be better to “give it a day” so that she didn’t get the kids sick. On Monday evening, she texted them to let them know she wouldn’t be in Tuesday either. “It was frustrating, but what can you do?” asked Kelly. “We figured that would be the end of it, and she would be back by Wednesday.” She wasn’t.
The Rundall’s nanny sent them an email on Tuesday letting them know she was still not doing well, but was going to the doctor on Wednesday to figure out what was wrong, and hopefully would be back Thursday. She sent a similar text as well, bringing the number of times she had called in sick to four. Thursday, she sent a text saying she was on medication, but would not be able to come to work on Friday. Friday morning, the nanny sent a text to Chris, saying she wouldn’t be in, apparently forgetting she had sent an email earlier. “It was a really hard week,” said Kelly. “We are both really busy at work right now, and it just ended up being really bad timing.” To add to the frustration, the nanny sent a text Saturday morning saying she still didn’t feel well enough to come in “today” clearly not realizing it was Saturday. It started to feel like the communication was automated,” said Chris. The Rundalls will go down in the Stapleton folklore record books, however, as the eight sick messages from a nanny in a week shattered the previous record of five. A record many Stapleton residents are hoping isn’t challenged for a long, long time.]]>