We just had to cancel backup childcare because the person the service was going to send was refusing to take a COVID test and refusing to use the N95 masks we ask people to wear (we provide both the tests and the masks). Where I am located, COVID transmission is bad right now and there’s no excuse for not being careful. Plus there’s no way we’re putting our baby and people we care about at risk of COVID just because someone has issues with masks and testing. I got some serious anti-vaxxer vibes from this person, so no way, cancelled.
But that means we’re currently without childcare for tomorrow. Again. The world (US?) has devolved so much that realistically you need two layers of backup nowadays to reach the same level of assurance you used to get with one layer. This is the third time in a year that we’ve been in this position where our primary caregiver couldn’t make it, then the backup caregiver fell through and we needed to find another caregiver.
There’s a lot of truth to the saying that it takes a village to raise a child.