Nanny reminds kids' camp she's on vacation, 'the dad started texting me furious.' AITA?

"AITA for how I responded when I got a call from the camp the kids I nanny go to?"

I’m a nanny to a 6 year old boy and 2 year old girl. The job has gotten more complicated over the past year due to the parents divorcing. I work for the mom on her weeks and I occasionally help the dad out when his mom can’t watch the kids. The job is pretty great though. The mom and I have become good friends and I love the kids.

The 6 year old got out of school 2 weeks ago and is in camp now. The thing with camp is, he tends to be over it by 2-3ish so I get a lot of calls “he has a stomach ache” “his head hurts” “he’s not feeling well” where he acts sick until we go home, then he’s bouncing off the walls and jumping on the couch. We’ve talked multiple times about it. There’s no problem with any staff or other kids. He’s just over it.

I was on vacation all week. Yesterday I got a call from the camp and when I answered the kid started telling me that he hit his lip on a table that morning and a mosquito bit him on the playground so now his arm hurts and he wants to go home.

I talked to him about his day for a minute, reminded him that I was on vacation and wouldn’t be able to hop on a plane to pick him up, then talked to the counselor to make sure there weren’t any serious issues. Hung up, texted the mom to let her know about the call, and went about my day.

Then last night the dad started texting me furious that I dismissed his “injury”, reminded me about his (extremely mild) mosquito allergy (counselor already said someone at camp gave him his Zyrtec so he’s absolutely fine), and thinks I should’ve contacted him, his mom, or asked the kids mom to get him after the camp called me.

The mom told me not to worry about it but I know the kid already does have anxiety issues so I’m wondering if I did something wrong by telling him he’d have to tough it out until his parents could get him and not contacting someone to pick him up.

Here's what people had to say to OP:

timehoodie6969 said:

NTA, you are an employee on vacation. You shouldn't have even answered that call. The dad is out of line.

TheFlashestAsh said:

The camp should’ve contacted the parents after you explained you weren’t available. This isn’t your responsibility on vacation.

FrostyGlam_25 said:

NTA. You're not just the nanny, you're teaching life skills here. The world isn't going to cater to every minor discomfort, little dude has got to learn resilience.

RealWanderingWizard said:

NTA. The kid is fine. The dad is acting like a private school dad who is going to get what he pays for. I'm a teacher and the thing you always have to remember is that you aren't dismissing a kid's nonsense because it inconviences you -- you are dismissing the kid's nonsense because you're teaching the kid to be honest and self reliant.

kindaright-ish said:

NTA. Did his mum not notify the camp workers that any incidents she needed to be called, not you? I'd assume they'd call parents first anyway, especially if it's injury/allergy related? You were on holiday. What did dad expect you to do? Treat the injury and bite through the phone? Teleport?

Cut your holiday sort and rush back over something that was already dealt with and actually quite minor? Imo, this a communication issue from the parents, and they need to solve it. You don't and shouldn't be answering calls from camps or the parents when you are on holiday.

Additional-Age-1112 said:

NTA. IMO you went above and beyond your work duties by taking the call and trying to bring some comfort to the kid while on vacation. If it were me I would have let that call go to voicemail. Maybe that makes me an a-hole.

EdenCapwell said:

NTA. You're on vacation. You didn't even need to answer the call.

Worth-Season3645 said:

NTA....Why are not the mom and dad first point of contact? I am assuming, because most times you are in charge, except when on vacation. And who runs that camp? Because they should know by now that this child is just doing this to get out of camp and go home.

Every day he comes up with something? they should be taking care of it and not calling either you or the parents every single day. And you did let the mom know. Dad needs to get over himself.