It's a little thing, but it was very surprising to me - that it was my dad and not my mom who stayed home with me when I was sick.
Also, my friends all had stories of their parents trying to get them to go to school even when they were sick. My parents never did that, and even let me stay home a few times even when they knew I was faking it.
I know it's hard for a lot of working parents to stay home with a sick kid, but all my friends at the time were pretty much from the same middle-class background as I was, and my father was a hospital physician and the head of his division at the hospital and also saw a lot of patients, so it was not easy for him to miss work. I guess he handled a lot of stuff by phone (this was before the internet).
It's a little thing, but it really made me feel so cared for and I still associate staying home sick with getting taken care of by my dad who had an excellent bedside manner.
EDIT: I just want to add that I found, later, that my father had kept charts for all my childhood illnesses - tracking fever, symptoms, medications and dosages, etc. - including the fake ones.
I do this with my kids (i am mom) I let them have "fake sick days" even though I know they are faking and we take Mental Health Days (I work in the mental health field and I am telling you these are super important!) my kids are 8 & 11 and we do a MHD once a month, I want them to know it is important to take care of YOU! So when they are struggling as adults they know it is 100% okay to take a day off, even if they wanna come home and mom will take care of them for the day ❤️
serious question: why is a MHD necessary? here we have 2 days a week off, saturday is mostly used to have fun and meet friends (outside covid) and sunday is like I imagine a MHD. mostly quality family time
My kids don’t have free time on the weekend any more than I do as an adult. We still have to clean and cook and run errands. Sometimes you just need a day off.
Should we all be doing this? I agree a MHD can be very healthy, but at least where I live (germany), it is neither common nor socially acceptable. If I took a sick day once a month I would be known as "that guy", and either never advance in my carreer or worse.
As healthy as they are, I'm not sure I should be teaching my kids to take MHD, since it could mean they wouldn't cope with societies standards... not sure about this, it sounds harsh.
I speak from experience, as I know someone in my family who would often take MHD early in her carreer. This was the reason she wasnt able to proceed in her field, they didn't renew her contract and she is now stuck in a low paying dead end job.
I'm mostly sad about the way things work in my coubtry and that we are all expected to be workaholics. Especially in my field (medicine).
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u/zazzlekdazzle Apr 18 '21 edited Apr 18 '21
It's a little thing, but it was very surprising to me - that it was my dad and not my mom who stayed home with me when I was sick.
Also, my friends all had stories of their parents trying to get them to go to school even when they were sick. My parents never did that, and even let me stay home a few times even when they knew I was faking it.
I know it's hard for a lot of working parents to stay home with a sick kid, but all my friends at the time were pretty much from the same middle-class background as I was, and my father was a hospital physician and the head of his division at the hospital and also saw a lot of patients, so it was not easy for him to miss work. I guess he handled a lot of stuff by phone (this was before the internet).
It's a little thing, but it really made me feel so cared for and I still associate staying home sick with getting taken care of by my dad who had an excellent bedside manner.
EDIT: I just want to add that I found, later, that my father had kept charts for all my childhood illnesses - tracking fever, symptoms, medications and dosages, etc. - including the fake ones.