How do you manage your personal time off/vaction time?

Good morning everyone!
I am just wondering how do you manage your personal time/vaction time? Parents are asking me already when im taking hoildays for this year?
This year so far for me has been really crappy. My husband went for surgrey last october to remove a mass that was in his jaw and wisdom teeth pulled. Surgrey goes well lasted only an hour. When he goes thruogh a follow up we were told that they couldnt remove this mass that we have to watch it to make sure it doesnt grow and it heels well. Its not heeling well he went yesterday and finds out he has to go in and remove it. Meaning breaking his jaw and screwing his mouth shut. Meaning longer recovery!
My question is what would you do in my shoes? Would you take one of your hoildays?
I really dont want to take the day surgrey and have the kids back the next day i did that back in october and it was the worst day ever. We dont know how long hes going to recover it can take months. I did have my hoildays planned up until now. We were going out of town to vist family now we arent. And the we were going to take another around christmas but now with this i dont think happening! Do you guys take a sick leave if you need something major? I think i need to add this in the policy. Right now i have my two weeks vaction one week paid one week not. And if im sick or anyone else in the family is sick i call asap and the dont pay for that day.

if you need time off to care for your husband that you should do it. I personally would not count this as my vacation time. This is for family/medical reasons. I value my vacation time and this is something that you need to do for your family. Sadly whenever we take extra time off, we run the risk of parents bolting but family comes first and dont feel bad about that. I have never quoted exactly how much time I will take off, I give a range so that I have options. In this business we need more that 2 weeks off in a year. explain the situation to the families, and do what you need to do. In the past I have suggested to my clients that they help each other out by watching each others kids and therefore having to each take less time off. I hope surgery and recovery go well for your hubby.

I would take the time off to care for my husband, too. When parents sign up for home daycare, they should understand that we have families, and that sometimes we get sick, our families get sick, and sometimes we have to go to appointments, etc as well.

It's just the way it goes...

My contract states that I will give at least two weeks notice for a preplanned day off or for a vacation. In reality, I usually give a month or more, or tell the parents as soon as we've booked something (whether it be an appointment or vacation). Parents all sign this, and I also mention in my contract that they must have a back up plan, because I will take time off for such things.

I contract states that I will give clients 60 days notice of intent to close for my 'vacation' which I take 10 days of over the course of the year and as much notice as possible if I need to take 'family emergency/sick' time where I take at least 10 days over the course of the year ... so my clients know going into our relationship that they need to have at least 4 weeks of back up care coverage each year in addition to closures for stat holidays and Christmas break.

I also agree with Gramma I would not count this as my 'vacation' unless you cannot afford to take the additional time off later because well IMO vacation is time meant to be spent 'decompressing' and well caring for a spouse recovering from surgery is anything but a 'vacation' :( I empathize because I went through a period of bad health between 2000 and 2005 where each year my vacation time was spent each year recovering from a surgery of some sort because I could not afford to take off additional time off work unpaid and it really burnt me out!

If it was possible I might see if they could arrange his surgery for a Thursday and than hopefully the Thursday, Friday and weekend is enough time to 'recover' so you are only closed for the 2 days ... if it is not 'emergency' surgery where he must have it done next week type thing they are actually pretty good about working around things if you are self employed or do not get paid sick time.

For my vacation, I have the entire year planned out by December....but what you are describing is not a vacation! That would be sick or personal leave. I would just take the minimum amount of time possible, but still take off what you need to take care of him. As long as you give some notice, paretns are usually understanding.

I plan my vacation weeks for the next year in Dec. and give the families all a letter so they can book their holidays with their employers too. But if there is an emergency and you need some days off then hopefully all your clients will be understanding and will have backup like grandparents lined up in case of emergencies or they can take a few vacation or sick days with their children. It's life. I have 3 paid personal days in my contact in case I get sick or have an emergency. Stuff happens. We are human too. Take care Sweetness.