Your Child is Sick at School: Tips for Working Parents

If you have children and work outside the home no doubt you have received the phone call from the school office or school nurse asking you to pick up your child because they are sick.

When you first get the message you begin to wonder and worry, "What happened? Is it the flu or did they really hurt themselves?" As a working parent you join the ranks of all parents of school age children who have to stop work and cope with their sick child. That's the time you start calling the numbers in your cell whether it's your husband, family, friends, neighbors and other people you know who can help.

Each state has different requirements as to when a child is sent home from school. The requirements may state a fever of 100 degrees or more, vomiting or diarrhea are all reasons a child needs to leave school.

But which parent picks up the child? And which of you stays home with your child? In some instances one parent can stay home for the entire day while the other one goes to work. Or if that isn't doable then you may trade off, with one parent taking the morning shift and then going to work in the afternoon. The other parent goes into work for the morning and then heads home for the afternoon.

But what happens if neither of you can stay home, then what do you do? That's when having your cell phone can come in handy. If you have family or friends nearby, maybe one of them is able to take care of your child.

Another option is to use a healthcare agency, which can provide a home health aide to care for your child for the day. The home health aides have been trained to take temperatures, make meals and care for children. In some states, home health aides can give prescribed medications like antibiotics and fever medications like aspirin and Tylenol.

In one city we lived there was a sick childcare center. The center was staffed with RNs and health aides. The care was excellent though they had limited space. The cost was slightly expensive, but my husband was out of town and I had meetings I could not change. It was either go to the meetings or lose my job.

Friends who have teens have let their children stay home alone if the teen had a mild illness using frequent phone check ups.

How do you explain an illness to your boss? Most of us use either sick time or vacation time when our children are ill. It varies by company, as some companies want you to let them know if the time off is for you or your children. You may find yourself having to make up time depending on your employer and the type of job you have.

Bottom line, sooner or later your child will get sick and you'll receive the phone call. By planning ahead and lining up people whether family, friends, neighbors or care centers you'll have resources to use. Just remember this is a favor you are asking for, don't take advantage of people.

As more and more of us work outside the home it also becomes important to encourage attitude changes in our workplace. We want to be good parents and good employees, working together with our employers we can explore choices so when the call from school happens there are choices we all can use.