We’ve just come through a spell of illness in this house. It started a couple of weeks ago with me getting a cold. Mrs Adams was next in line to fall ill.
Once Mrs Adams had recovered, our eldest child had to go and see the doctor with a minor ailment. Finally, Toddler Adams fell ill at the weekend culminating in a vomiting session over the sofa.
Thankfully we’re all recovered or are recovering. There is, of course, never a good time to fall ill. I just hope we’ve got it all out the way and the Easter holidays can proceed with no further bugs.
Needless to say, there’s been quite an impact on family life. I haven’t been able to take Toddler Adams outside and so her sister has also been quarantined. While I’ve managed to limit screen time, there has been an increase in television watching as I try and keep two children, at least one of them ill, entertained.
I am generally more liberal about TV time when one of the kids is ill, but I still dislike using it for this purpose. As I become a more experienced parent, however, I have come to realise that you simply can’t do everything and a little Disney-therapy when a child is under the weather doesn’t seem to do any long-term damage.
Aside from this, Toddler Adams has been at home for two mornings when she’d normally have been at nursery. As a result I have barely done any housework. The cobwebs are building up, the floor needs to be vacuumed and don’t even ask about the laundry situation. I should really be seeing to it now but writing a blog post is much more fun.
Did I get the chance to watch television or have anyone look after me when I felt dreadful a couple of weeks ago? Of course not. As I remarked to a mum in the playground at the time “us mums don’t have time to fall ill.” Okay, so I was being a bit cheeky, but it’s true, a stay at home dad has no time to fall ill. If he did, the wheels would fall off the family unit.
Pic credit: Claus Rebler. Sourced from Flikr.com and reproduced under Creative Commons agreement 2.0.
9 thoughts on “Stay at home dads don’t have time to fall ill”
My son was ill last week and we both went a bit off kilter being cooped up. He was over excited when the delivery guy came! Now I’m ill and I think it might have been better if we were sick at the same time as now he’s full of beans and I can’t cope.
Dealing with kids when you’re ill is indeed a spectacular challenge. Hope you’re better now.
Hope you’re all back on tip top form! Of course, originally man-flu was so named because the men in question weren’t actually ill, they just made a fuss. In real illness terms, of course you aren’t allowed to be ill. Nor me. And certainly not all the family at once!
I iwll do my best not to fall ill Sue. it is my duty to my family.
JB missed most of February’s nursery days, luckily I had a couple of posts set aside for such an occasion. Now I have to work even harder, for when I need to paint another Red Cross on the front door!
And guess what? Mrs Adams has just fallen ill again. DO you have any sare red paint?
Part and parcel of the Stay-at-Home job isn’t it!
Ha, what a trouper you are, John! You’re right, us ‘mums’ really don’t have the time to be ill (I hope that mum chuckled at your comment). I feel your pain, too. Last week I had the actual, bonafide flu. It still hasn’t totally left me, as I seem to have lingering symptoms, namely sinusitis and the inability to stay awake. Last week was miserable, and I’ve since been left with a horrible backlog of blogging stuff to do, emails, my freelance bits and I have almost totally lost my mojo. I may have turned a corner this morning though, which is why you see me here, reading and commenting on your blog! I hope everyone is back to previous good health at your end.
The mum in question did indeed laugh at my comment! Hope you get over the flu soon.