40 or 50 years ago if your child got a cold, the following problem would not have been an issue.
See our 7 year old is still sick. It’s Sunday evening and there is no chance he’ll be good to go come Monday morning.
Last Thursday he had a special athletics day at Griffith Uni and although he’d been looking a little pasty, I still packed him, smothered him in sunscreen and sent him on his way to the all day event. Phil went to pick him up from after school care that afternoon and before he could even ask about the medal tally, S greeted him with a technicolour spew at the front door.
So, off we go to the doctor again. Yes the SAME doctor who has seen the myriad of black eyes, school sores and bum boils that have presented themselves to him on at least one of my children in the last three weeks. This time it’s tonsilitus, ear infections and conjunctivitis. Cool.
Which Chinaman have we run over? Any big stories I’ve been too busy cleaning up vomit to catch on TV?
So, now we do the mum/dad dance. And it’s not the fun dance Dad likes to do most. No it’s the “Who stays home with the sick child Dance”
If my husband and I don’t work, we don’t get paid. So when it comes to who stays home with the sick child, who, well, stays home? Well more often than not - me. But seeing as our family is seeing more medical action than the Home and Away hospital of late, we are at a crossroads.
After a bit of discussion and seeing as it feels as if I haven’t had a full days’ work in three weeks, husband is staying home with S. He did the advising to his boss and then sat down and said “geez it sucks I feel so bad having a day off”. We both know our respective bosses are very cool and very generous when it comes to family, but it doesn’t mean we feel better about doing it.
I know, I’ll go get out my own violins.
It’s funny because I guess 40 or 50 years ago, they had bigger issues. Like whether the simple virus would turn into something far worse. Yet they still had more of the one thing we all want but can’t buy at the shops – more quality time with our family.
6 comments:
Sometimes that simpler life of 40 or 50 years ago makes sense, huh? Where did we go wrong?
Oh, the sick baby at home dance...I have done it. LOL. And yes, 40 or 50 years ago it didnt exist because the Mom always stayed home. :)
Is it weird that I often did the sick baby at home dance with my siblings?
I remember having days off school to look after sick sisters (my brother has world's strongest immune system and had his first cold at age 12)
I have a really really relevant passage to quote you, from my amazing 81 year old Grandpa's most recent periodic newsletter to the Grandkids (I'm nearly 30 - so 'kid' is not so appropriate!).
"The recent outbreak of mumps and measles in Christchurch makes me think that it is not only the Pill that liberated women but also the immunisation of children. When I was young and mothers stayed home, it was partly because of the succession of childhood diseases to be nursed: mumps, measles, whopping cough, chickenpox... we all got them and could be home for a fortnight or more with each one. If you were very unlucky (as I was) you got diptheria. I was in bed for a month with a nurse living in the house. I would probably have died without the new sulfa drug. The boy next door died in a polio epidemic. In those days life was more hazardous..."
What do you think?! Insightful? I thought so! And when I saw your article I couldn't help but immediately think that my Grandpa's story is 1st hand proof of what you say: that 40-50 (or in my Grandpa's case 75-ish) years ago there were dangerous diseases and they were a big part of the reason that both Mums and Dads couldn't work at the same time.
Sorry for the super long comment. It's because I was so inspired by the thinking in your post & in my Grandpa's letter! : )
I gotta tell ya, this can at times rear its head even when one parent works part-time and from home (as is my situation). Normally, of course, sick kid patrol is my bailiwick (as today! I have Miss Snots and Miss Upchucking home today). However, every so often, I get sick at the same time as the kidlets ... and because we have a 6-month-old baby as well as the older kids, if I'm sick enough, hubs is occasionally forced to take a carer's leave day. Whch he did on Friday and HATED doing, but I was running a fever of 40, had uncontrollable shivers and a terrifying cough, and a headache to split your brains, so was really no choice. This virus, which the kids and I are now on the tail end of but is still dragging us down, is just starting to stir in the man ... and oh boy, are we hearing about it!
Oh and I think Eco-Chic-Mummy's grandpa's comment is extremely insightful and very true. I'd also add that household technology and labour-saving devices are another element to this - once upon a time just doing the basic housework for an average-sized household was a more than fulltime job by itself (my mother remembers spending a full 9-hr day each week as a child helping her mother do the family laundry etc).
This totally sucks and I feel your pain.
The worst part is, whoever you find to watch the child- you still feel bad because you're the one they want to be with them when they're feeling sick.
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