When you are home with a small child, a sick day is no fun. Now, I’m not talking about your child getting sick. Of course that’s no fun, but you can deal with it, right? You’ll soldier on through the colds and the flu and the general I-don’t-feel-wells. However, when it’s you who doesn’t feel well, woe betide us all.
I’ve been having that sort of a day the past few days. Since I have a chronic illness and don’t feel well a lot of the time anyway, actually being sick makes things many times worse (insert sympathy here). What can you do when you are sick?
There are the obvious solutions, and these are ones that I have had to call upon from time to time. Asking someone else to help is a logical thing to do, but it is very hard. I’ve only been extremely sick a couple of times since my daughter was born and I have had to call for help, simply because I was too ill to care for myself, let along her.
A good backup supply of movies and food is another standby. After getting seriously ill about a year and a half ago, I make sure that I have a stash of food ready in the freezer every winter. That way I can feed myself and my daughter quickly and easily.
I also dig into the sick day stash for my daughter. Paint with water books, special Lite Brites, they all come out. If she is having a hard time dealing with my illness and doesn’t want to play on her own, throwing a “new” treat toy into the mix often works.
Don’t bother multitasking. All right, there may be one phone call that you must make, but if you usually try to parent, call people, do the laundry, and scale tall buildings at the same time, stop. Take a deep breath. Just focus on parenting and save everything else for another day.
Applaud yourself. Yes, you may feel like you’re barely holding it together, but look! You are holding it together! When you’re sick, don’t worry about being the perfect parent. Ask forgiveness if necessary. I like to warn my daughter that I am grouchy, and usually she understands. She’s been sick too.
What are your sick day survival tips?