Modern parenting on sick days looks very different today

Remember when we had a sick day at school? Almost always, a parent would be available to pick us up and become the general caregiver for us for the next few days. Sick days nowadays look a lot different. With parents juggling parenthood, work and possibly a side hustle, technology has played fairy godmother to those of us who cannot simply switch off on a child’s sick day.

While there’s no good time for a child to fall sick, they do seem to have the knack for catching a bug right before a stressful presentation at work or a pressure meeting with the bosses. Thankfully, we have technology on our side.

Work from home, telemedicine and WhatsApp groups are just some of the weapons in the artillery of the modern parent. As remote work gains more and more popularity, caregiving for family members becomes that much easier. It does not give one the luxury to switch off completely, for sure, but it does allow us to be present with the ailing individual.

“I work three jobs,” confides Fatima Tuz Zohra, a corporate warrior, writer, and freelancer. “And neither of these jobs allows me to miss deadlines.” For a parent like Zohra, office shared drives are a blessing. “I can access what I need from home and take client calls. I have conducted entire marketing pitches from my home with my ailing daughter in the next room.”

Pre-COVID, this would have been unheard of, but now, parents like Zohra are able to give their children a sick day without having to miss work entirely.

The popularity of telemedicine has sustained after COVID, and it is not hard to see why. Long waits at the doctor’s chambers, not to mention the risk of cross-contamination, are made negotiable with the option of telemedicine. Of course, severe cases will still require a trip to the doctor’s, but life has become a lot less hectic with parents having the luxury of choice.

“My child is on the spectrum,” shares Atika Rahman, a mother and banker. “Obviously, overstimulation at the doctor’s office does us no favours.” Through telemedicine, Rahman and mothers like her are able to access doctors’ services while also providing their child the comfort of familiar surroundings.

“It’s both a blessing and a curse,” admits Shihab Shameer, working in the procurement department of an FMCG company. “When we fell sick, our mothers or fathers would take leave, and that was that. They were all ours.”

Shameer compares their work life to his. “I get to take a break on sick days too, thanks to remote work, but I cannot afford to switch off entirely- ever.” Shihab is the father to a 5-year-old and a single parent at that.

Whether one considers it a half blessing or a full one, remote work has made it easy for today’s parents to pay attention to what they believe is more important — mental health and rest.

“I was never, and I mean never, allowed to stay home when I had a cold!” she remembers. “It was always ‘just a cold’ to my parents and so not worth losing out on the ‘Perfect Attendance’ certificate”. While she struggled through her sick days, it was not the kind of school life she envisioned for her daughter. “I know how horrible it feels to go to work with a tickly, runny nose and a burning back of the throat. My child should be allowed a break on days she feels lousy.”

The post-COVID parents of today are also super aware of how quickly germs spread in a classroom setting and are often seen to keep sick children back to spare others the same plight.

To say that technology has not helped new parents in their parenting journeys is wrong. Tools like remote work and telemedicine spare them the double burden of fully taking time off for a sick child and then returning to twice the backlog. It lets caregivers stay guilt-free on both counts — present for their children without neglecting professional responsibilities — really, the best of both worlds.