When a Single Parent and Child Both Get Sick
My son came down with a fever this past weekend. Stuffy nose, tired, achy. He had a mixture of cold and flu symptoms. No fun for him, at all.
When Monday hit, he was still sick. No problem, I work from home. He could recuperate all day under my care.
Except for one thing – I was sick, too.
After I got my teen daughter off to school, I went back to bed and slept. My son and I both woke up at 11am. I had chills, a massive headache, sore throat. And I was still tired.
But my son needed a few things…
- He needed me to take his temperature (of course)
- He needed cold medicine (we’d run out the night before)
- He needed chicken soup
- He needed one of our favorite old home remedies – grapefruit peel tea
- He needed me to take his temperature again (why do kids like that so much?)
As a single parent, there was nothing for me to do but get up and take care of him. I went to the store and got the stuff he needed. While I was at it, I swung by the school to pick up work he had missed.
Of course, there was no one around to take care of me. But that’s part and parcel for parenting solo.
By 3pm, my son’s fever broke. I was worn out. Turns out he was tired, too, and we both managed to nap away the rest of the afternoon.
When my daughter got back from after-school sports practice, I had enough energy to put together dinner. (I had cooked all weekend – maybe my intuition told me to do that? – so all I had to do for dinner was heat a few things up.) And take my son’s temperature again (for the fifth time! Sheesh)
When a single parent gets sick, there’s often no one to take care of them. When their kids get sick at the same time, you just have to suck it up and deal.
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Comment by Andrea
| October 20th, 2009
It’s going around coast to coast. We are on day three of the low then high grade fever here. Thor’s teacher sent an email around yesterday saying only 8 of the 20 kids in class came to school. It stinks cause today is picture day too. Maybe they could photo shop him in…
The worst is when you have a vomitting sickness. There’s no real easy way to deal with kids (sick or not) while you’re under pressure from that one.
Andrea´s last blog ..The innocent mind of a seven year old…or the not so innocent
Comment by Ginger Magnolia
| October 20th, 2009
Hope you both feel better soon, and that your daughter is lucky enough to escape the dreaded flu.
Ginger Magnolia´s last blog ..Totally Music Tuesday
Comment by Vinomom
| October 20th, 2009
A year and a half ago Lady H came down with the flu and two days later I came down with it. The two of us literally slept for five days. I was thankful she was just as sick as I was because I don’t think I could have taken care of her!
Hope the two of you are on the road to recovery!
Vinomom´s last blog ..I Shall Survive
Comment by Danielle
| October 20th, 2009
Oh, try it with a toddler that doesn’t care or realize that mom is sick. There is NO resting. I just went through that and it was horrible.
Danielle´s last blog ..
Comment by Discontented Little Mummy
| October 20th, 2009
I feel for you. You deserve an award. Oh, look, there’s one for you over at mine! :)
Comment by T
| October 20th, 2009
Yeah, I SOOOOOOO get this.
Hope all is better soon!
T´s last blog ..Haunted memories; Lessons learned
Comment by Mindy/Single Mom Says...
| October 20th, 2009
A lot of single parenting is just ’suck it up and deal’. Hope you feel better soon!
Mindy/Single Mom Says…´s last blog ..Proposed Solution to Reform Child Support Laws & Enforcement
Comment by Cathy
| October 20th, 2009
They will one day return the favor. I was sick recently. Three days in bed wishing I had purchased a burial plot. Thought I was going to die!
My 25 year old took such good care of me. All those years of sucking it up and putting him first really paid off.
Cathy´s last blog ..Dating Younger Men – Would You? Could You? Dare Ya!
Comment by BigLittleWolf
| October 20th, 2009
Your closing line sums up single parenting in a nutshell. Let’s hope our kids – sick, stressed, or just busy – have been watching closely, and taking a lesson in parenting. Not only for when they get there in the future, but for taking their time in making the choices that put them in the parental role.
A post we can all relate to.
BigLittleWolf´s last blog ..Married sex! (An oxymoron?)
Comment by MommaSunshine
| October 20th, 2009
Yeah, you’ve pretty much summed it up. Been there, done that plenty of times…and from the sounds of things it’s not going to change any time soon.
Hope you’re feeling better soon.
MommaSunshine´s last blog ..Random Stuff
Comment by Senorita
| October 20th, 2009
Awwww, feel better soon ! I am currently sick, and I have to suck it up and take care of myself and go to work. I have no more sick days left. My throat hurts so bad.
I feel for sick parents who have to care for their children at the same time.
Senorita´s last blog ..The Claws Are Out Again…………………
Comment by Laura
| October 20th, 2009
Been there done that!
We were all throwing up! Was SOOO much fun!
Laura´s last blog ..Protected: Rant rant rant
Comment by Blake
| October 20th, 2009
That is the worst. I once had to pull solo duty with our (then) 1.5 yr old son — both of us with the flu. Not one of our better days :-(
Comment by Charmaine
| October 20th, 2009
Thank goodness it wasn’t the darn Swine Flu.
Are you a single father or a divorced father? People tend to use the term incorrectly.
Comment by dadshouse
| October 20th, 2009
Charmaine – I’m divorced, single, and a father. You tell me.
Discontented Little Mummy – thanks for calling me a bloody something! I love that Brit slang.
My son is better today. I feel great. Thanks for all the sentiments. I know all you single/divorced parents can relate!
Comment by Joker_SATX
| October 21st, 2009
Don’t worry…there will come a time when you are sick and your son will remember…then he will take care of you.
Comment by Gilit Frank
| October 21st, 2009
That is one of my worst memories when my son was a toddler. My exhusband left the house when my son was a year old and he works in film which means 12-20 hour days!. One day, I was sick and my son was not, and I simply could not take care of him (it must have been a school holiday or something), so I had to pay someone to take him to his house. My family lives on another continent. My friends were working. It was one of the saddest days of my life. And I couldn’t bring myself to wake up and make chicken soup!!!
Gilit Frank´s last blog ..Post 67: Let Your Fingers Do the Walking
Comment by Travis
| October 25th, 2009
Oh I sympathize with you on this.
I was sick with my youngest and him and I just lounged on the couch all weekend, trying not to move. Except that he wanted freeze pops, soup and just be taken care. Which I really wanted to do, but was just slow doing it.
That time though, after shuttling them 2 1/2 hours to their mom’s I only drove back 2 hours and 15 minutes. I woke up the next morning after wrapping my car around a tree the night before. Of course that took me out for another week. With more aches and pains and cuts and bruises, and the lingering flu.
Bleh.
Travis´s last blog ..Love Is a Battlefield… Oh… A Battlefield…