Citydad's blog: How robust is your business continuity plan?

15:40 on a Wednesday: Inbound call from (live-in) Supernanny to CityMum. The unthinkable has happened. Supernanny's beloved dog back home in another country has died. Devastation. CityMum, about to step into a meeting, enquires whether Supernanny would want to fly home - Supernanny confrms she does.

CityMum finds her mind wandering during the meeting, trying to think of a back-up childcare plan.

16:31: Call from Supernanny to Citydad, who happens to be in the middle of a "pick your own" with his kids, to share the news. Kids (who overhear conversation) are now upset too. Decision made to head straight home.

17:05: Citydad arrives home. Supernanny is putting on a brave face. Kids tell me "see she's not upset". She says that she is. Citydad tells her if she wants to get to Heathrow they have to go right now.

17:15: All pile into the car and based on Flight ETD of 19:35 they feel optimistic. During the journey Citydad's three year old daughter accidentally makes everybody smile by saying "Supernanny's dog has just died, so much." First 15 minutes go well and Citydad gets excited by the thought of finally being able to put the car into "sport" mode but then they hit the M25. The next 7 miles takes 1 hr 25 mins, during which time Citydad's son is sad that he's never going to play "fetch" with the dog.

18:55: Arrival at Terminal 3 finally with flight due to leave in 40 minutes. Supernanny leaps out and runs. They are quite sure she can't make it, but she does. "Super" by name, Super by nature.

Phew and breathe. 

Uh oh. Now the realisation sinks in. How are we going to manage the kids on Thursday and Friday if Supernanny is not around? We totally depend on her - luckily for us she's totally dependable.

20:30: CityMum arrives home to find kids still having dinner and in need of dog bereavement counselling. Fast forward to 21:30 and we need to plan for the next two days. Luckily Friday will be fine as my agile working wife is already off but Thursday is still an issue. My wife's away for a business trip, our previous nanny isn't available and all of my family are busy. I don't feel like trying to find another stranger through an agency so I decide that the only thing for it is for me to take an emergency day's holiday.

22:00: Citydad emails his boss and is pretty sure that taking a day off work because his kids' nanny's dog has died will be a new one for the boss. This now parallels an authentic excuse Citydad gave to a teacher about 25 years previously when he told him he couldn't wear the right shoes to school as one of them was taken away by a dog.....(true story).

Moral of this story: Get two nannies, or just one with no pets? Perhaps - or maybe, it's that no matter how good a system you think you have, you should still prepare for the unexpected (plus, you don't need to have your own pets to teach your kids about the inevitable).

Citydad is a manager in the shipping industry who surprised his employers by asking for four months of paternity leave, after which he shocked them by requesting flexible working to continue to spend more time with his two children.