Not surprisingly, it’s a busy time for us all in the emergency childcare booking team at My Family Care. Coughs and colds (nannies, parents and children), the holidays fast approaching, and of course the weather, all keep us on our toes.
So what exactly do we do? Emergency Childcare is a nationwide emergency childcare service which allows parents to source qualified childcare professionals within an hour’s notice. Working parents suffer a childcare break down at least 5 to 10 times a year, and it can be very stressful. You want and need to be at work, but you also need to care for your child. Emergency Childcare allows parents to book back up nannies, childminders and nurseries wherever they want, whenever they want them. As a last minute panic booking or a pre-emptive solution booked in advance Emergency Childcare provides the reassurance parents need. Whichever childcare option they choose, the parents that book with us can be confident that their child is in the best possible hands.
We do offer our services directly to parents, but many of our bookings come from Employees whose Employers offer Emergency childcare as a benefit to their staff. They recognise that supporting their working parents in this way has many benefits, from reducing absenteeism to supporting diversity, and contributing to retention and loyalty.
But back to the British winter! All Christmas levity aside, the reasons care is booked at this time of year does give an interesting insight into need for the service. So the top 5 reasons are:
1. Sick child
Not only are you stricken emotionally about your child’s health and wellbeing when they are taken ill but work commitments also mean that you can’t afford to take time off work to care for them.
Having access to an emergency nanny or childminding service is invaluable as you’ll have somebody you can trust professionally to comfort your little one or take them to see a doctor if need be for your peace of mind.
What is interesting is that parents who want to work, but feel guilty about being at work with a sick child at home, can have the best of both worlds. They can be at home, knowing that they're close to their child, but having an emergency nanny, means that they're free to work as well.
With flexible working becoming more prevalent, we're seeing many parents appreciate the benefits in this kind of situation.
2. Sick nanny
A nanny or childminder calling in sick can have such a stressful knock-on effect for working parents because of the short notice period. In these circumstances, panic takes over and work plans are thrown into disarray so it is very important that you have a back-up plan in place for such occasions as it is bound to happen when you have an important meeting you just can’t cancel, especially during the cold winter season.
3 Foreign au pair going home for Christmas
Again another time when bookings increase especially if an employer offers a specific number of days Emergency Childcare days a year (a bit like holiday days).
4. Closed schools and nurseries over holiday period
All working parents have the same problem in school holiday, thankfully the Christmas break is not as long as the summer holiday though, often schools and nurseries will be closed for about 2 weeks over the holiday period. Most parents manage to make plans to cover school holidays in advance, but under the axiom ‘ anything that can go wrong…’ they’ll most likely be a day or so when plans go awry. That’s just the nature of parenting.
5. The weather
Britain always struggles when there is heavy snowfall – but it doesn’t have to be a childcare crisis if parents are faced with schools closures. Snow blizzards and freezing weather will undoubtedly force hundreds of schools to close as well as crippling transport networks. But with the Emergency childcare hasty arranging of last minute childcare and emergency nannies are possible all over England. In the recent cold snap emergency childcare reported a fourfold increase in bookings and are able to take bookings as close as one hour before the childcare is required. Whilst Heavy snow can cause everything to come to a standstill, schools can have a tendency to take a ‘just in case’ approach to closure. Our nannies will do everything they (sensibly) can to cover an emergency.
Emma Griffin is head of parent relations at the emergency childcare booking team at My Family Care.
