Career and Kids

Sick Day Child Care

by elizabeth on January 12th, 2007

“Mom? I don’t feel good.”

Those are words that no parent likes to hear, since it’s hard when your child is sick. But, those words take on an additional meaning when you have to go to work.

It’s also funny how those words seem to emerge on Monday morning around 7am instead of Friday afternoon when there’s the weekend ahead to recover, but, I have no answer for that one.

So, what’s a working parent, or, parents to do? Your baby is sick, yet your job is funny about wanting you to, you know, be there. What works for one person’s job situation may not work for another’s, but, I think we have all had to scramble to make plans.

NOTE: Please don’t make me have to say that of course the child is the priority here, and, sometimes alternative plans are not appropriate. When we take sick kids places, it’s when they are on the mend, but, can’t go back to school yet, and, they are not acutely ill.

Taking an entire day off, or, calling upon family members may not be an option for everyone, but, obviously, that would be a good place to begin, if you can. There may also be the instance where you have run out of sick or vacation time, and, need to work. That would be me. If you want to know why, it’s all here.
Anyway, this is very timely for me, as in we’re going through it right now, as in at this writing, so, here’s some things to consider:

1. Expect the unexpected - At the end of the week, make a habit of reviewing your schedule for the next week, and, have an idea what you could do to change your plans in case something unplanned pops up. If appropriate, check with your spouse, and, compare schedules for the upcoming week.

At the first sign of a kid’s sore throat or cough, we start forming different scenarios for child care based on our schedules. For example, my husband might say, “If he can’t go to school tomorrow, then I can stay home with him until 11:30, but, then I have to go to work for a meeting.” Then I might go in early, and, come home, or, meet him at his work and pick up the child and take him back to work with me.
2. Split the day with your spouse or the children’s other parent - One of you stay home in the morning while the other one works, and, then switch: the other person goes to work in the afternoon, and, you stay home.

When my daughter was younger, one day she was sick, and, it happen to have been on a day when both my husband and I both had things at work we absolutely could not miss.

So, we all got up, piled in the car, and, went to my work first. I went to my meeting while they hung out in the cafeteria. Then, we all got back in the car and went to his work, and, I played with her while he had his meeting. I had to be at another meeting, so we all went back to my work after that.

Ideal? No, but, it makes a good story, and, we got through the day.

3. Investigate a back-up plan outside immediate family - I have no siblings, and, both of my parents work (ed) when my children were very young, and, my mother-in-law lives out of town, so, family care is not an option for us. On a whim one day, we asked the retired parents of a friend if they would consider watching our children on short notice when they couldn’t go to school. They were delighted, needed the extra income, and, the kids loved going there.

4. Consider working different hours - sometimes, you might have a job where you can work your hours differently for a day or two. Occasionally, I have been able to stay home during school hours with a sick child, and, go into work after my husband got home in the evening. I have even gone to work in the middle of the night after the kids were in bed.

5. Gather work that can be done at home - If we have a sick child, sometimes, one of us will go to work in the evening and gather a few things that can be done at home. Of course, as we all know, there’s no guarantee that you can do the things you brought home (like right now), but, maybe you can knock one or two things off the list and get a half day work in (unlike right now).

The fact is, sometimes, we have to go to work when a child is sick, and, alternative plans for care must be made. I hope you don’t have to do it anytime soon, but, a little brainstorming may be all it takes to make a plan until your child is back to normal.

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