Hi All,

my child met with an accident in kita and he had to undergo a minor op , now he has got a certificate for doc to attend kita but with some restrictions ( like to refrain from playing outside). The letter was provided to the kita authorities.
Kita now says they dnt have enough helping hands and asked us to keep child in house. The problem is both parents are full time employed and we already had kep the child at home fore 2 weeks , it would be diff for us for more leave .
isnt the kita also responsible to sharing my problem , which higher authority shud i consult ,
please advice . Shall i take it up with jugendamt ?

Sorry to hear about your child. This is true that Kita almost everywhere in Germany are underemployed (heard about strikes by various Kitas in Germany?)

They follow strict guidelines and when a child in Krank for e.g. fever above 38°C, then he/she must be sent back home doesnt matter if parents are employed full time or not and usually they do not give special treatment. Challanging normal Kita for normal child during period when he/she is Krank is not a good idea (my personal opinion)

What you can do is use Kinderkrank Urlaub (at least 10 for each parent, normally 12 per year), which means 24 vacation per year only to take care of child = 5 weeks without Feiertage. You are paid by KK during this period. If that does not help then speak with your employer for special case to extend this period. They usually agree. If they dont (worst case) then both of you have 60 days holiday that means another 3 months. So 4.5 months shall be enough, I guess.

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the advice , the costs for the kids accident is being paid by a unfallkasse and i dnt thing they have the kinderkrankerurlaub , the normal insurance wont pay since the accident happened at workplace in this case the kita. the doctor letter clearly states that child is fit to attned kita but that he needs to refrain from outdoor activities .

In this case kita should ask the govt and not pass the buck to me and ask me to take leave .
whats ur advice

sorry to hear about the accident and wish your kid fast recovery.

my personal opinion do not make your kid suffer mentally by challenging kita or forcing anything upon them. They can make your baby's mind pain badly

.. i dnt thing they have the kinderkrankerurlaub , the normal insurance wont pay since the accident happened at workplace in this case the kita..
It does not matter what happend and where it happened with the kid. Ask doc to give you "Beschinigung für Arbeitsgeber" that kids need special attention for so many days..take it to your employer and do not guess but speak with your employer. I have worked with 3 different companies. Everywhere it was possible and with "normal" insurance (Pflichtversichert). I and my wifewas paid. And to be honest, it was for us 100% schei.ss egal, even if they hadnt paid, we would have stayed home.

..the doctor letter clearly states that child is fit to attned kita but that he needs to refrain from outdoor activities..
dont know about kita there but here they have one "Betreuerin" per 5 kids. So theoratically, if she sits with 1 kid what about other 4? and he can not left alone. No one takes responsibility in such cases.


In this case kita should ask the govt and not pass the buck to me and ask me to take leave . whats ur advice
Agreed completely. But in my case I could not ask our Kita because govt would have said, why we have given you Kinderkrankurlaub?

We have faced the similar situation with Kita. Child sickness and accident. In brief, the lesson I have learnt is that do not be at cross with your Kita or any school authority. They document almost everything about your child and to some extent about parenting too. If your child is fit, you have no chance to get Kinderkrank etc, and you would need to use your holidays and other means. This all is being part of the parenthood, and you should not be so stingy abount it. Imagine yourself in any other country, where the social welfare system is almost nonexistent (Africa, Asia) or quite suboptimal (US). What would you do? Quit job in most cases in my experiences? That is all what parents do if the worst happens. Your situation is still very normal as per German standard.

Hi all ,

@roundtheclock, thanks for your time but i was looking for advice and not criticism here . My parenting is good enough and according to german standards i have enough proof . Secondly i m not in a third world country and if it would have happened there the costs for private childcare costs would have easily covered by us but the same doesnt apply in germany .

@tony : Thanks sir for the advice i did follow up with the kinderkranken urlaub and it seems that i have already used it up this year ( i have another 1 year old child ) and so did my wife. So that option is also not there . The unfall kasse will not pay for any babysitter and the kita wont take care of my child which they made pretty clear . The eltern telefon from the stadt was not helpful either. The jugendamt was approached by the kita and they are also helpless in this situation.

It all boils down to the fact i need a babysitter at home for next 11 days 8 hrs per day for my child but who will bear the cost in this special situation ?

Sorry to hear about your situation.

Coming to your question. Can understand, even I used my Kindkrankurlaud within first 3 months of the year and it is not easy to find a nanny with whom you can leave your kid alone. Ask your colleagues if they know one. You can get tax exemption for Tagesmutter at least but dont know if is same for nanny too.

I hope you know that each parent can take 10 days Kinderkrankurlaub “per Kid”. Read it on internet. Don’t know if true.

You can try also to shorten period when nanny is employed. Like you leave for office at 0600 and came back at 1400 hrs and wife leaves at 0900 and returns late. This way time for which nanny is employed is just 5 hrs.