Yes, no, maybe?
For occupations revolving around putting out fires, no.
For other occupations, yes, every once in a while, when lack of a babysitter could be due to bad luck as opposed to bad preparation.
Well I mean it depends. If you normally have arrangements and something happens, and you have a backup (always have a backup) and that fails too, yah. I mean shit happens, as long as it rarely happens I don’t think there’s a problem in this situation. Unless your work allows you to bring the kids with you, you don’t have much choice.
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I grew up as a latch key kid. From the age of nine that was normal for me and many of my friends. I came home from school and let myself in. Studied or watched TV. I knew better than to make a mess before mom got home.
These days Social Services thinks that’s a terrible thing. Parents better be home or have baby sitters. The Nanny state is powerful.
I can understand an employee calling in when their normal babysitter isn’t available.
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I grew up as a latch key kid. I came home from school and let myself in. Studied or watched TV. **
These days Social Services thinks that’s a terrible thing. Parents better be home or have baby sitters.
I can understand an employee calling in when their normal babysitter isn’t available.
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Depends on the age of the kid, doncha’ think?
No parents should leave their two year old at home alone so that they can come into work.
We never left our daughter’s alone at home until they were 9. That was just for a short time while my wife or I ran an errand.
Their good behavior eventually convinced us they could be trusted to come home from school on the school bus. Be alone until we got off work.
They started coming home from school IIRC when they were 10. They were going to a neighbor’s house before that. We paid the lady to watch them a couple hours in the early evening.
Some allowances have to be made for kids.
They are ‘Long-Term Worker Replacements’ and as such, it is STUPID for Industry to throw them under the bus.
That and its cheaper to lose one day of production than to pay years and years of Welfare for at least two people just because you felt Pissey and Trumpish this morning.
Parents have to rely on daycare or nursery schools for young kids. No way around that unless there’s a relative or babysitter available.
Working a job is pretty much necessary if you want to pay bills and eat. 
Employers do need to make some allowances for unexpected problems. Babysitter cancels, maybe the kid is sick and daycare won’t take them.
I allow my staff to stay home if their childcare isn’t available - there’s even a specific provision for it at my workplace. If it’s an ongoing issue they don’t seem to be taking steps to rectify, then we’re definitely gonna be having a conversation, but in cases where something unexpected has happened and they’re just plain stuck, what in the world else can they do?
Nanny state? Really?
I raised four kids, the “government” never once interfered*. We left them home when we thought it was safe, and didn’t when we didn’t. What the good people at CPS might think never entered our mind. If I had done something to endanger them, however, I wouldn’t dismiss efforts to protect them as a “nanny state.”
*Unless you mean things like requiring car seats or making them go to school.
Wikipedia has a good article on latchkey kids and the law.
My wife and I never had a problem with CPS. We were aware that one phone call from a nosy or spiteful neighbor could change everything.
Back to the OP. Does that employer have personal leave days or comp time leave? That’s ideal for this type of situation.
If you are being asked to come in on a day you are not normally scheduled, absolutely.
If you are trying to find a babysitter for your regularly scheduled shift, that’s a problem. I mean, obviously, you can’t come to work and leave a baby at home, but it isn’t really a good long term move to not have a reliable babysitter. I understand that things come up, but I still have a business to run, and if someone is not able to show up consistently, then I need to hire someone else, and cut back the first person’s hours to something that they can handle.
Sure. Obviously if they’re doing it on a regular basis there’s a problem but a sitter abruptly canceling isn’t much different than the child being sick or some other kid-related interruption. Would the employer feel better if the employee just lied and said the kid had the flu? Either way, they’re staying home and watching their child so call it a sick/personal day and tally it off.
Most work places, I think you can just “call in sick” or take a personal day. The specific reason is irrelevant.
I’m fortunate that my job allows me to work from home on occasion. So in a pinch, I just work from home with the kids. It does become interesting when my 2 year old tries to participate on the conference calls.
Once every couple months or less, I can buy that excuse. On a weekly basis, forget about it.
In my workplace, you can’t call in sick, you would need to take a day out of your annual leave entitlement.
Also, you can’t work from home as a method of childcare. When we devised the remote working policy, it specifically excluded such an occasion, because let’s face it, it isn’t really going to qualify as ‘working’ when you need to watch a 2 year old.
I said it’s acceptable, but there’s a lot of context.
I wouldn’t think it was acceptable if it was every other day, although I can’t think of any other reason that it would be acceptable to call out every other day.
yes, unless or until it becomes frequent enough to cause problems at work.
Many years ago when my boys were little, I was fortunate enough to have a workplace that was supportive of an occasional ‘no childcare’ leave day. I was careful not to abuse it, as I knew how rare such tolerance can be.
I had a regular babysitter, a neighbor willing to help in a pinch, and my mother, husband, and myself took turns taking a day off if the kids needed to stay at home. But even with such an elaborate sitting tree, I did have one occasion when I was the only one available and had to do an emergency call off. The regular babysitter was on a vacation she had told us about months in advance, the neighbor was in the hospital after an appendectomy, my mom had the flu, and my husband was out of town.
Shit does happen. But it shouldn’t happen very often.