My D had a baby a year ago. She was not interested in a virtual shower, and we weren’t comfortable with an indoor shower. We ended up have a drive-thru shower at her house. We decorated a table & set it up in front of her house. A few guests parked & stood outside with her (masked), while other guests just dropped off their gifts & took a goodie bag all from the comfort of their cars. It was very nice, to be honest. The people who didn’t live in town weren’t invited because it wasn’t feasible for them to come … however, many out of town friends & relatives sent gifts either before or when the baby was born, just the same.
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We had a drive by HS graduation for my niece. She stood out front of the house with her folks and get mom’s folks (who have had a big role in her life). For my relative who graduated med school during the pandemic, we dropped off his gift and left.
It’s been very challenging for everyone figuring out how to celebrate and stay safe. There is no one right way, lots of different options available, each with pros & cons.
Your situation sounds very difficult, and I hope people and dog improve in short order. Sympathies!
D just called on her way home from daycare and GD is with her. Her university affiliated daycare has cut hours again for cleaning, employee testing, and whatever else they think requires it for the second time in less than a year. They tested everyone yesterday morning upon return and D was greeted at the door with instructions to return home as someone from GD’s room tested positive. Sounds like it was one of the employees who works in GD’s room. No idea when they can return. This is not their first time to experience “quarantine” for GD, but after 11 days without daycare due to institutional closing, D is at the end of her rope. She needs to get caught up with work, but will spend the majority of the day dealing with toddler. She is paying for daycare and will have to take a vacation day. I understand the importance of protecting all involved, but it is hard not to be bitter over those who have “quit” the pandemic and all associated protections like masking. Their state (TN) is one of the worsts in the nation so, even though university requires all employees and students to be vaccinated with very limited exceptions, others continue to pay the price as omicron spreads like wildfire. Vent over.
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Out of curiosity, when a daycare is closed you still have to pay for it? What’s the incentive for them to keep it open.
D1 has in home care for her daughter. She pays by the hour, but guarantees minimum 50 hours a week. She also pays for 2 weeks vacation.
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My understanding is that daycare is paid on a monthly basis and you pay whether child attends or not (pay when child is sick or if you take a vacation). GD has only attended since 8/20, so I don’t know about pre-pandemic, but the expectation is that you pay if your child can’t attend due to quarantine for a room or shut-down for entire daycare. Employees still get paid since they don’t control those decisions and I think that’s good thing as you don’t want to incentivize people working when sick. My frustration for D & SIL is that they could have had communication related to availability of daycare prior to driving to/from this morning and for the bigger picture of TN’s lack of caution. Daycare protocols for taking temperatures, masking, requiring vaccines of all who are eligible are as good as can be. However, you can’t control what people do when not at work and so few people are taking precautions in their area. We can’t eliminate covid breakthroughs, but they could certainly be reduced if people would make more of an effort.
D was told in December that many in GD’s room would be required to mask beginning in January as they would be 2 by that point. She was encouraged to buy masks for GD who will be 2 on March 21st as she would probably go with the flow seeing other little people masking. So, off they went with masks yesterday and GD’s daily report said she wore it compliantly until lunchtime. Pretty good for a toddler. If little people can do it, I’m not sure why grown ups can’t.
I hope the predictions that things will be better by early March are true!
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Queer Eye has an episode this season about an alternative(?) high school and their prom in Austin. It was really insightful of how the seniors missed being together.
GD’s daycare closes at 5 PM instead of 6. This has been for several months now because it is hard to find staff.
I’m sorry to hear about your granddaughter’s day care. It’s certainly frustrating to drive there and then have to turn around. I have so much sympathy for those working couple who have to grapple with daycare and school. Makes an almost impossible task and must be so incredibly difficult.
My opinion is that we are coming to the point where people who work with the public aren’t going to be able to be more careful. That this variant is so contagious that it is too hard to avoid.
Also people have just spent time with their loved ones over the holidays. I think it would be hard to deny workers that.
Is it possible for the parents in your GD’s class to bond together and have one parent handle Monday AM, another handle Monday PM, and so forth? It’s better for each parent to miss 1/10 of the workweek than 10/10 of the workweek. If there is a place to do it, of course.
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I agree that we are going to have more breakthroughs. TN is just a hotbed of covid right now. I think D wishes there were better communication to avoid travel to daycare only to be turned around at the door. I also don’t know the answer to getting people, across the nation and not just in TN, to practice masking and to cut back on some of their activities that come at a higher risk. Just venting in prior posts and this one since there are no easy answers.
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My mom retired to Tennessee so I’ve been informed and frustrated by their response
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I am a cynic. I love the suggestion to have parents rotate a day a week to watch the children. The day care has absolutely no incentive to open up if they are still being paid. Among the parents, surely someone knows a person happy to come to a home and care for a few toddlers.
This is coming from someone who has not been allowed into the office for a month. A biller, than a patient, than a nurse, tested positive. So, the office manager and her assistant spend 2 hours waiting to be tested. (Several times). I’m losing $, can’t even get my mail, but they get paid.
Just saying… Even the best friends can become lethal enemies if one’s child gets injured while in the care of the other. Daycares are required to carry a certain amount of liability insurance.
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I know. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and hopefully this will only go on for a few weeks.
While I traded emergency day care with one or two other families (usually used my family), there weren’t many from day care that I’d have trusted with my kids and there were several kids I had no interest in watching. Birthday parties were hard enough!
We also had 10 kids who were medical special needs (we had nurses at school) and I wasn’t qualified to watch them.
Our schools are closed today because of weather. It’s hard enough to find care for 1 day. I wouldn’t want to be in Chicago where they have to find care/school supervision for at least a week.
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Back in the day when my kids were young, I did daycare exchanges with neighbors as I worked part time. I also took in those whose daycare had fallen through on an emergency basis and was happy to send mine to others when needed. When I became a single parent, my nextdoor neighbor literally saved my life with afterschool care for mine. There are harder and easier kids, and as an occasional thing, I was happy for the flexibility, and I felt it was good for mine see other environments.
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Hope Twins A and B are getting better.
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Sending good wishes for good health for your family, WayOutWestMom! How are YOU feeling?
So sorry to hear about all the struggles. These two years have been incredibly challenging. I am thankful to be retired!
My best friend’s son is going through this with his child’s daycare. It is closed for cleaning or closed because of an exposure often. He and his wife (a teacher) are really struggling.
D wouldn’t let me shovel the front steps at her house yesterday. She said, “How would we ever survive if you get hurt?” Let me say that I am perfectly capable of shoveling the steps… but because of her request, I did get a push broom and pulled the snow down to the bottom and then shoveled.
I did a child care exchange when I was home when my kids were young. S would go to the neighbor’s home daycare when I volunteered at D’s school. Then I would take S and care for all the kids at the home daycare when the neighbor volunteered at her D’s school. H said it was a really good deal… for the neighbor. 
That’s why I didn’t mind having 20 or so kids to my children’s birthday parties. It then gave me 20 two-hour slots when I didn’t have to do anything!
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