Why is it So Hard to Take a Sick Day with Your Kid
Nobody enjoys being sick, but taking a sick day along with your child is next level. Here’s why
Your “one-person” daycare operation usually starts with short notice. Your kid got sick from some germs/virus going on at daycare. You need to stay home with them until they are not contagious. It’s usually last minute reluctant realization of “crap, today is going to be a sick day”.
A sick-day child care duty is heavier. When your kid is sick, they are either more clingy, which is natural and understandable, but it demands more of you than the usual day; or they are still pretty energetic, but you are stuck at home with limited options to entertain them, because playdates, EarlyOn centres, and many other indoor options become unavailable when your child is sick
YOU get sick, soon after this. By this time, you are most likely running out of sick time, and are due back at work. Or because your kid is still recovering, you stay home with them, while you’re still sick . Either way, you’re working a shift (at work or at your one-person daycare operation), while sick.
No wonder you would feel: SICK! Fatigue, helpless, hanging on by a thread…
Appreciating that this is a lot.
And it is a moment of survival.
Like animals trying to lay low until the dead of winter is past.
YOU ARE DOING ENOUGH, just by surviving.
[Advice Alert!] Continue reading ONLY if you feel like reading some tips. Give yourself full permission to NOT learn anything new today, you’ve done enough!
Survival tips:
Take the time to communicate with your partner: have a system about who to call in sick in the next round of illness; decide together when is a two-parent stay home situation because sometimes it takes 2 !; decide together the best way to check in and reassess the situation and adjust care plan for the family as needed
Take the time to communicate with your work: if you are worried about calling in sick too much from work, proactively communicate with your work about your concerns; your work may have options to help deal with this kind of situation. At least, your manager won’t be surprised that their otherwise reliable employee suddenly becomes unavailable a lot, and will hopefully work with you on making a plan that works.
Reach out to medical professionals: parents usually are better at taking their kids to the doctor than seeking medical attention for themselves. We get it, it’s hard to make the trip when you know that there’s probably not much that that the doctor can do for you. And having your concerns checked out by the doctor, having that record of a doctor’s note may help to ease some of your worries and rumination (or make it easier to set boundaries with yourself around these worries and rumination)
Making “soothing myself” the theme of the day: deep breathing through the whole drive to the doctor’s office; put your hand on your chest, shoulder, giving yourself chest or belly rubs whenever you get any privacy.
Think: how can I do less
Let this be your mantra: I’m going to take it easy today. “Taking it easy” is a promise to treat yourself gently and with care, is a promise to be a friend to yourself for a day.
Hope all parents and children stay well in this transitional season of fall!
