Rationing sick and vacation hours

I am fortunate to have a job that has paid sick and vacation days.

Before I had children, and, aging parents, I didn’t think much of the hours, they were there if I needed them, and, I accrued them at some rate or another, it didn’t really matter much.

But, then along came children, and, I had to use all of the vacation and sick hours for maternity leave, thus beginning the endless cycle of accruing them and using them all in the same motion.

My benefit hours balance was just recovering from having had my youngest child, when, my mother got sick, and, my dad had surgery, and, I had to use all the hours, and, then some, all over again. So, now I’m back to having to decide if I can afford to take time off for something, or, if I should leave those hours in case someone gets sick.

For example, I decided to go ahead and used some hours to take a short trip with friends last month. Then, right after that, two of the kids got sick, and, were out of school for several days, thus involving more days used. Even so, I decided I would go ahead and plan to go camping with my family for a couple of days over Spring Break, and, now I just had to leave town this past weekend because my uncle died.

Now, I have to decide if I should go with my family, or, stay home, and, not use any more hours.

Though I realize those are hours are there for a reason, and, that I’m lucky to have them, I still wish I didn’t have to decide between work and family in this particular way.