This past week I've been battling a virus that just won't seem to go away (I know of others with the same affliction and it just seems to linger and linger). Waking in the night with coughing attacks in between waking to feed a newborn, I find that "rest" is difficult/impossible and certainly not helping my rate of recovery... and this got me thinking about sick days when I was a career woman without children vs. sick days now as a work-at-home mother (of four children 6 and under).
Many years ago, when prior to motherhood, I actually didn't mind sick days all that much (shhhhhh don't tell anyone!)... sick days meant resting all day, and depending on the ailments... watching movies, reading books, and recovering.
Now, as a mother, I find that sick days are almost identical to well days except that:
- I have to achieve the same tasks with 1/2 the energy / physical ability/ desire (diapers must be changed, breakfast must be served).
- My children somehow know I don't feel well and their usually "pretty good" behavior is traded in for "completely wound up and/or cranky" behavior.
Did you notice a change in sick days once you became a mother?
Written by Kristina Light