Sick Child Care

Fall is upon us and kids are heading back to school. Many working parents facing limited time-off for illness know that the fall/winter season also brings sick kids. Some parents face a real dilemma when they wake up to a child with a mild fever, or a bad cough. A child's illness can require a trip to the doctor's office, or some serious TLC from mom or dad. But more often, the child feels OK, but just shouldn't be around other kids. And so a parent must use a valuable day off (often a Vacation Day), to stay home with a child who is actually enjoying a fun day off playing or watching TV.

A couple of solutions exist that could ease parent's concerns, allow them continue to be producitve and save their time-off allowances. First, employers could offer some flexibility to allow employees to work from home on occasion. But another option is to find a sick child care center. Such centers provide care and comfort to mildly ill kids, allowing parents to get to work. Read a story of such a center here.

I know many parents say they would never use such a center. That is, they couldn't think of sending off a poor sick kid to someone else's care. And I agree to some extent. When my kids are really sick, I want to be there with them, keeping a close eye and providing lots of love.

But, there are many times that you can't even really tell that they are sick. They play and laugh and I sit thinking of all that I should be getting done at work. On a day such as that, I would feel fine with my child being in the care of a licensed medical professional who can keep a close eye. And also, I'm sure the kids would see it as somewhat of a treat to go off and recieve such special attention.

Unfortunately, such centers are not readily available. I am told that many hospitals and medical centers provide such a service to their employees. There is an organization that works to advocate for such centers, The National Association for Sick Child Care. But their websie shows their most recent newsletter as one in 2004, so I'm not sure that they are actually active. Perhaps it is a potential business idea for a budding entreprenuer?