Many parents during covid who have had a child and returned to work have found their child to be constantly unwell. Illness after illness.

Although many companies offer sick pay and parental leave it can be an awkward subject and many parents feel they have no choice but to send their sick child to childcare as they can’t sacrifice ANOTHER day off work and have a red mark against their name.

There needs to be a system in place which supports working parents during this difficult time, a system which like any sickness during pregnancy isn’t ‘classed as sickness’ the same to apply for children and families when in early years settings. 

I personally left a very good job to ensure my 12 month old could be home from nursery and recover fully from a harsh pneumonia diagnosis in July 2021, leaving my job meant I was able to stay home with no worries about when I would need to return to work and to get him back to full health before returning. My job did not pay sick pay so for this period I would have been without pay! 

Please consider this and reach out to new parents during covid who have experienced similar.

Thank you