Ideally, this is something that your husband should
nip in the bud with the nanny without you becoming a third party, and
validating the nanny’s feelings of sexiness that she may be trying to culture
by getting a response from either your husband or you. Even if your husband
does not respond to her flirting, if you do, she has gotten the validation that
she needs.
If your nanny is calling in sick enough that it is
truly inconveniencing you and disrupting your child’s life as well as yours and
your husband’s, you need to make a change.
One change is to sit down with the nanny and ask her
if this number of sick days is normal for her. If it is, ask her if she will
get a physical with a doctor, immediately, and try living more healthfully, by
taking vitamins, getting more sleep and eating right. If she agrees and she
does all those things and she stops getting sick then you’ve
done a terrific job.
If she agrees to these things, but her behavior of
calling in sick does not change, then you have to consider making a change.
That change does not have to mean firing her.
If she feels that fewer working
days will help alleviate the stress that is causing her to get rundown, and
sick, then consider hiring a second nanny to cover half of her work shift. This
may be an ideal situation because if she does call in sick, you have your
second nanny to come in, if she is available. If your first nanny does not work
out, ultimately, you will have eased in a second one, gradually.
If the first nanny is not willing to take a shorter
work week with you or if she tries it, and she is still calling in sick with
the same frequency as before, than you need to let her go and find someone who
has a better health record.
If your nanny is on the phone so much that you feel your
child is being ignored or not well cared for, then consider limiting the
nanny’s phone access during working hours. There is no particularly graceful
way around this problem, except to have a talk with the
