Keep Your Sick Kids Home

I will admit that I am guilty of this (namely before the Coronavirus pandemic). It is so much easier to take your kids places rather than disappoint them or inconvenience yourself. If they are just a little sick, you think it won’t hurt, and it is much easier than fighting with them over it or changing your whole day. You do not want to make your life harder, so you think that it is fine to take them wherever you had planned.

Unfortunately, when you take your sick child to places with other people and kids around, you’re putting everyone else at risk of getting sick as well. You haven’t inconvenienced yourself, but you’ve now made life potentially difficult for everyone else that interacts with your child. Don’t be surprised if many of them get sick as a result of your decision - you could definitely be responsible for a large outbreak.

This is far too common, unfortunately. Before you had kids, you likely didn’t get sick very often. After having kids that go to daycare and school, you’re likely getting sick a few more times per year than you were before. Your child gets sick at school, brings it home, passes it to you. You then pass it to your partner, and they pass it on to any other children you have - everyone in the home gets sick.

Kids are simply not great at keeping germs to themselves or keeping themselves clean - it’s not like they’re washing their hands all the time or that they are sneezing into the elbow. No, those germs are spreading easily among children as they’re still learning how to best keep their germs to themselves. Even adults are poor at keeping their germs to themselves, so it’s not surprising that kids are bad at it either.

If you have the ability to keep your child home, even if inconvenient, then you should. Most adults have the ability to stay at home from work for a day - you may not get paid, or you may have to take the day off, but you can still keep your child home when they’re sick. If you can work from home, then you’re in an even better position than most parents - you may not be as productive, but it’s still possible.

Unfortunately, some employers simply don’t care and you may have poor reviews or ultimately be fired if you’re taking too much time off to watch sick kids. There’s not a simple solution to this problem, but more employers should really be open to people working from home if they need to. This alone would solve a large majority of the problems related to having a sick kid that you need to keep home.

Outside of work, keep your child home from other activities when they’re sick. They can go to their next sporting activity. You can visit your family another time. And you can take them out to dinner another night. Stop taking your child places when they’re sick simply because you want to go there. You’re putting everyone else at risk simply so that you can do what you wanted to do. It’s rude and inconsiderate.

Having a sick child is no fun. Don’t make life miserable for everyone else by exposing your sick child to them.