The stress of a sick child becomes compounded when you must miss work to provide childcare. Working with your boss ensures your job remains secure and avoids hard feelings that could impact your work life later on. Dealing with your boss in a professional manner and telling the truth about the situation garners more respect and understanding than lying about your reasons for missing work.
Understand Company Policy
Each company has a different policy for administering sick leave and days off. Some companies allow you to use your paid or unpaid sick days to care for an ill child, while others limit the days you're allowed to use for child care. Talk with your boss or the human resources department before your child gets sick. Your boss will appreciate that you're striving to work within existing policy when you ask for a day off.
Provide Alternatives
If your workplace allows it, offer to work from home during the time your child is sick. If you have no days off available, offer to work an extra shift when your child is well again or to swap shifts with another employee. The sooner you let your boss know you'll be missing work, the more time he has to find a replacement or formulate his own backup plan, so let him know immediately. Offer to use vacation time or personal days off to make up for the time you're missing if sick child benefits or sick days are no longer available.
Research Backup Childcare
If your workplace has no sick benefits in place or if you've used them all, it may be necessary to find backup childcare. Most childcare services won't allow sick children to attend. Instead, find a friend or relative willing to help out with childcare services when necessary. If full day care isn't available, offer to work a partial shift when day care is available for your sick child. Your boss may be willing to allow you to leave early even if she won't let you miss an entire shift.
Family Medical Leave
The United States Department of Labor enforces the Family and Medical Leave Act. While this act doesn't protect you if your child is experiencing a cold or a minor bout of the flu, it does provide employment protection if your child is suffering a serious illness. Contact your boss as soon as possible to begin the paperwork process to apply for medical leave. You're provided up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a single calendar year to care for a seriously ill child.
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