bashed up nose and face
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The dreaded nursery phone call

As a working parent, there’s one thing I always dread after sending N off to nursery.  Biting?  Fighting?  Bad language?  Inappropriate actions that his dad’s taught him?

Nope.  It’s the dreaded nursery phone call with their name flashing out on the phone display.  My heart always sinks as you never know what the problem is.

This only really applied at the day nursery where he is 3 days a week.  After a year of being at nursery school on the other 2 days I don’t think I’ve ever had a call from them.  But day nursery we do.  Thankfully N’s not a particularly ill child, or that clumsy.  Plus of course, any less urgent information tends to come over via email…or text if it’s a reminder of something happening at nursery that week like jeans day, or bring your Grandparents in.

But phone calls, I just want to hide when I see the name flash up.

Of course I want to know if N’s fallen up a step and into a door frame corner, ending up with a nice bruised stripe diagonally up his face…sorted out with ice and cuddles, no need for stitches or hospital, just a check that the nose wasn’t broken at the doctors.

bashed up nose and face
He really looked like a bruiser here

Sometimes it’s a call for calpol to be given.  I must sound really rude on the phone, but I always dread that as calpol never really works for N.  Nurofen’s much better.  But also he is quite a hot child.  And then of course, if the temperature doesn’t go down, then I have to pick him up, only to find that half an hour after picking him up, he’s on normal form.  The bonus is that our nursery do administer medicine if required and if authorised.  I’ve heard a lot won’t.

At the moment there’s the threat of chicken pox, as it’s going round again.  N had chicken pox a while back, but it was really mild. He only had 5 spots.  So there’s the worry that he might catch it again.  Last time was a pain as he had spots but didn’t seem to have any other symptoms so trying to work from home when he was like his normal self but quarantined at home was a bit difficult.

He’s been really tired the last week or so too, so now I’m on spot look out.  He does have 3 spots in a row on his back which he turned up with last week.  He does react to bites the same way as his dad where I usually get off scot free.  So I’ve been examining these to check if they’re blistery but thankfully they’re not.  But I still got the call today to see if they could have a look at them as check there’s nothing in them – they almost looked like the centre of them was black/red, just the same as a bite I had a while back from a car boot sale.

All these bites sound like we’re grim and flea ridden, but I think being on a farm means you end up being bitten and have no idea how.  I remember I came back from Tractor Ted’s show in the summer with a bite on my hip from sitting on a straw bale – it had got me through my jeans!

So the dreaded display lit up this morning with the nursery name and my heart fell wondering if I needed to get the bites properly checked in case of chicken pox.  Luckily it wasn’t needed this time, and no treatment needed.  But it’s still worrying with the tiredness.

I guess parents, whether children are in school or nursery are always waiting on tenterhooks for the call home about their child.  It’s part of being a parent, and if you didn’t worry to some extent, you’d probably not care enough.

Do you dread the call from childcare?  What’s the most unusual call from them you’ve had?

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61 Comments

  1. Your oat made me smile because I remember all too well the felling – it doesn’t go away, I know get the feeling when the school rings! Glad he is feeling better.

  2. My son is in middle school now but I do remember those moments and the anxiety I would feel as a single mom knowing I’d have to leave work if anything ever happened. Luckily we didn’t receive too many phone calls at that age. It wasn’t until elementary that things started to ramp up for us. I hope your little guy feels better an thanks for sharing.

    1. He’s doing fine thanks. Just a bad cold now, but hopefully on the mend and he’s been fine at nursery if just a bit tired. Hopefully we’ll all get through this school year unscathed.

  3. I was in that state today. M had earache last night and a slightly raised temperature this morning. And I had my annual appraisal this morning so I sent him to nursery hoping for the best. Fortunately this time he was absolutely fine all day.

    1. Uh, hope M was ok. N’s come down with a horrible cold, moaning of ear ache one night, but got through nursery just being a bit quiet and tired. He slept fine last night though and been much livelier this morning. So hopefully all just a fleeting virus.

  4. I got a phone call from preschool last year for my son. He was sleeping from the moment he got there so they figured he didn’t feel the greatest. Sure enough, he never even managed to take his coat off or let go of his lunch bag.

  5. I haven’t had a child in daycare for years but I do remember getting a couple when I lil one was running a high temp. I had to leave work a couple of times when he was sick. Thanks for sharing.

  6. Daycare’s call parents for things as little as paper-cuts. I think to protect themselves they have to write up lengthy incident reports. I haven’t gotten any crazy calls. One time the nurse called to ask about my daughters eczema. I was surprised she couldn’t identify eczema .. surely my daughter isn’t the only one.

    1. That does seem a bit ridiculous. Ours isn’t that bad, it’s just the temperature thing, and then they’re trying to watch out for spots. They are a lot better than some nurseries round here I’ve heard about.

  7. Oh yes, when I worked while four of our kids were little, I always cringed when I saw the daycare calling. And I know it’s weird, but I really do wish chicken pox would hurry up and infect our youngest four kids since the others already had it

      1. Chicken pox has been doing the arounds at my son’s nursery and I was hoping he would get it because I’d rather he had it now then when he starts school. He missed it this time, but almost two years before he starts school.

        1. Chicken pox party for M then! He’s got plenty of time to catch it.

          N has another 2 random spots turned up, but again more like bites as bigger red patches round. I’m thinking he might need a new mattress (it’s an ancient one that’s been on the bed for years) and a serious boil wash of all his teddies and bedlinen. The OH gets bitten on the farm, but the last few days, N hasn’t been out. I don’t get them though and I sit on his bed, so no idea where he gets bitten, unless nursery sends him home with them.

  8. Oh, this brings me back to the days when my oldest was in daycare. It didn’t help that both my husband and I worked 1.5 hrs away, at the time. I didn’t get too many odd phone calls from daycare…usually, it’s because daughter was feeling sick.

    1. I’ve done that 1 hour commute and been called, but luckily my OH and his family are only round the corner if it’s ever urgent. Nice to be closer.

    1. We have day nursery which I guess is the same as daycare (although it does have a pre-school room), and our nursery school/pre-school is the equivalent of pre-K.

  9. My son doesn’t go to a nursery school or daycare but I know the dread and that feeling when I see that the school is calling with my 4 oldest in school.

  10. I must say I haven’t brought mine to a childcare, which I think is a good thing. The only reason is I am a stay-at-home mom and I have all the time to take care of her. Good thing too that I have friends who have kids the same age as hers.

    1. Aw. Luckily N took to nursery really well and we’ve not really had any issues. I’m hoping being there will help with the transition to school as well

  11. Now that my kids are much older, we dread the principal calling and saying they did something.. or something happened..

  12. I certainly do hate phonecalls in the day…it generally means that something is wrong!!! When I was working full time it was dreadful when the nursery rang…as you say it was inevitably something minor but your heart nearly skips a beat when you see the number flash up! Horrible. I hope the spots clear up soon…

  13. Oh no, that sounds so scary! I think we all dread that phonecall when it comes to our loved ones. I hope he’s okay!

  14. My kids hardly ever got sick or hurt until they went off to preschool. Not to mention all the naughty words they learned there from the other kids.

  15. I had a call once in the middle of a very important training meeting, the phone was brought to me and all I said was ‘Yes’ and ‘bye’ they rang to ask if they could take a picture of her for the nursery brochure, everyone wanted to know if she was ok as it was her first day, it was a bit embarassing!

  16. I’ve only ever had one call from school, to fetch my daughter who was poorly. Turned out she was faking it… she won’t be doing that gain in a hurry lol

  17. Luckily I rarely got phone calls from Nursery but the worst child related phone call was the one from Simon who was skiing with the boys. “It is possible B may have broken his back!” In the microseconds between those 9 words and a bit more explanation I had started to plan who would look after the animals and the fastest way to get to The Alps. Luckily it was less serious than I first imagined. He did have 2 hairline fractures but could travel home by train as normal and recovered fully.

  18. I have different ringtones set up on my phone for each of the children. Tigger is a sickly child so would often get a call from his day nursery but never from his preschool. The worst call I’ve had was when Roo fell off a bike backwards and as they rang me 30mins before collection I knew it was serious. A trip to A&E for a big bump but no lasting damage.

    1. That’s a great idea with different ringtones. Bumps are so horrible – at home I just keep an eye on him, but I suppose nurseries have to cover themselves.

  19. I think my best phone call was the time they called to say that they’d received three sets of childcare vouchers one month after something very strange went on when my employer switched voucher providers – apparently never in the history of the nursery has a parent tried to over pay!!

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