Untold Riches

If you are a parent, you know the drill. When you have a sick child who cannot go to school, you have more than one problem. First, of course, you have a sick child. Second, if you have a job, you have a conflict. Many of us have been the parent who wondered if the illness was borderline enough that a little over the counter medicine would get them through. Many of us have been the teacher shaking our heads at the parents who send the child to school sick.

It is complicated. So many jobs don't take into account sick children. American culture doesn't honor family needs. Period.

I have reached a point in my life where I can, if absolutely necessary, stay home with a sick child. I hate letting my schools and students down, but it is understood within the early childhood world that sometimes you have sick kids. I get paid only for the classes I teach, so my paycheck suffers.

But I now have enough financial stability, largely through marriage, to be able to take small cuts here and there for sick days. I make them up if at all possible. For many parents, being able to do this is an unimaginable luxury.

Should it be?

 

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