Who to put as nursery emergency contact?

drg0nz0

Who would you put down as an "emergency contact" for a child's nursery? I assume it has to be someone other than the parents, but should it still be a family member? My wife's family all live abroad, and with me it's just my dad and he lives a 3-4 hour train ride away (doesn't drive). We're in London. So in a true emergency (both me and my wife being uncontactable for some reason) there just isn't anyone nearby. We're friendly with a neighbour who has grown up kids, that's it locally. And we have friends in London but also far away, and they've got their own lives... Yeah, that's London for you, but still, what would you do? Maybe I'm misinterpreting what an "emergency contact" is for?

lika_86

Ask the nursery under what circumstances they would use the emergency contact, that should inform your decision.

sulkisu

drg0nz0 wrote: »

Who would you put down as an "emergency contact" for a child's nursery? I assume it has to be someone other than the parents, but should it still be a family member? My wife's family all live abroad, and with me it's just my dad and he lives a 3-4 hour train ride away (doesn't drive). We're in London. So in a true emergency (both me and my wife being uncontactable for some reason) there just isn't anyone nearby. We're friendly with a neighbour who has grown up kids, that's it locally. And we have friends in London but also far away, and they've got their own lives... Yeah, that's London for you, but still, what would you do? Maybe I'm misinterpreting what an "emergency contact" is for?

Why would it be someone other than the parents? Emergency contact is usually for if the child becomes ill or injured or some other urgent situation.

DigForVictory

My nursery wanted an emergency contact who could remove my vomiting child from the premises in under an hour.

You are going to have to go through your friends thoughtfully. Well, that or find a nanny agency that is willing to enter into that kind of contract.

Spendless

Why do you assume that they want someone other than the parents as an emergency contact?

They want to know who to contact in an emergency. I'd put each parent down separately with their individual work/mobile phone numbers.

jackomdj

A long time ago now as youngest is almost 11, but we had me and a friend. OH worked away so there was no point having him, I worked locally (so it was pretty certain I was always going to be available). In the 6 years (2 children) our backup was never contacted.

lika_86

Spendless wrote: »

Why do you assume that they want someone other than the parents as an emergency contact?

They want to know who to contact in an emergency. I'd put each parent down separately with their individual work/mobile phone numbers.

Might be a good idea to have someone else too, what if both parents are in a car crash? Or both decide to go somewhere together and get stuck?

Generally I'd say there should be one back up that isn't likely to be where the other two aren't if the other two might be likely to go places together.

onlyroz

They;ll want the parents and one or two other people who have permission to collect the child or be called in an emergency. They;ll want the numbers ranking in order of who to call first. If you have friendly neighbours then you could ask them if they;d mind their names going down just in case.

Spendless

lika_86 wrote: »

Might be a good idea to have someone else too, what if both parents are in a car crash? Or both decide to go somewhere together and get stuck?

Generally I'd say there should be one back up that isn't likely to be where the other two aren't if the other two might be likely to go places together.

What if the same day the parents are in a car crash, the 3rd is stuck up a tree and the 4th is holidaying abroad?

You could go on forever with what ifs. In the event of a car crash, unless both are killed outright or very seriously injured then their mobile phone will still work.

If you haven't got anyone else to put down which the OP suggests is the case, then there's no-one else to put down.

chesky

The school would only need to use the numbers during the school day, so usually it would be the parents. If neither are able to pick up their poorly child themselves, they would be able to call someone who can. My daughter has called me on a couple of occasions when she's been working, to do the honours and collect a sick granddaughter.