A host of working parent issues
Today, I have decided to live every working parent related blog article all at once.
As I was reading Paul Nyhan’s Working Dad entry about the nuances of sending sick kids to school, I realized I may have done just that.
My middle child was home with what looked sure to be strep throat yesterday, but, as the day progressed, he felt and looked fine, so, it must have been a viral thing, or, allergies, so, he went back to school today.
However, my daughter woke up with a sore throat. Perhaps I should have consulted Who is Sick first?
Her throat is red, she has no fever, and, feels a bit low, but, after having some ibuprofen, she opted to go to school (she’s a 7th grader). I may or may not end up going to get her later today, but, I checked my vacation time balance, just in case.
I realize I’m very fortunate to have it, but, you may be familiar with the fact that I have very little sick and vacation time left, as a result of many months of my mother’s illness and death, my father’s surgery, (details of which are chronicled at GenBetween) as well as various child related issues.
As I pondered how in the world it would be possible for me not to use vacation time in my life situation, I realized that I may indeed have to use more sick or vacation time to leave work earlier than I had planned.
You see, I was already planning to use my lunch time to go to my 5 year old’s preschool to help with the Teacher Appreciation luncheon to be a good working parent who participates in activities during the school day, and, I had planned to leave a little early this afternoon to catch my daughter’s soccer game.
As discussed on The Juggle, I don’t feel like I must attend all my kids’ sports events, but, I try to where reasonably possible, since I truly enjoy watching the games. If I have to miss a game, then, well, that’s OK, too. No working parent angst needed.
Since we have 3 kids and 2 parents, there’s times where one kid doesn’t have anyone at the game, and, yet they are still happy and healthy. OK, healthy, most of the time.
Did you catch the last issue? My daughter? Who may or may not be sick? She has a soccer game. Though it’s not necessarily because I am a working parent, I also have to figure out if she should play or not.
Perhaps tomorrow, I will live out the posts on the blogs about making money, instead.
While I appreciate my flexibility (as a very part-time member of the workforce) to stay home with a sick child when needed, deciding whether or not to keep a child home always seems to be debatable. Besides the parent(s)’s plans for the day, you wonder what they’ll miss at school that day. Some parents may also have cause to wonder if the child is perhaps exaggerating the symptoms. Or minimizing them, when the child really should stay home but doesn’t want to miss the test/field trip/party/social interaction with people cooler than a parent.