Some things in life are bad
They can really make you sad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…
And……always look on the bright side
of life…
(Whistle)~The Life of Brian, Monty Python
I just love it when my kids are sick! It’s so great, so fun, such a nice change, I look forward to my kids being sick. Yay for sick kids!
Said no parent ever.
It sucks when kids are sick. It sucks for everyone: the kid, mom, dad, siblings, friends, mom and dad’s work, mom and dad’s Facebook friends, siblings’ friends, pretty much everyone with less than 2 degrees of separation is affected. It also sucks for school, extracurricular activities and events, the people at the grocery store, the people at the pizza place, people anywhere you may have to unfortunately take said sick child in order to find food/medicine/sanity. Most would agree it sucks. In our house, with a family of 8, sickness rarely just hits one, it usually works it’s way through at least half of us, throwing our entire family under the bus for at least a week, sometimes more like a month depending on the math of that particular illness.
Last week we had the pleasure of some nasty little virus working it’s way through the 3 youngest members of the family. Feverish and cranky, they couldn’t sleep, didn’t want to eat, and pretty much only wanted to park their furnace-y little rear ends on mommy’s lap for hours on end, days without ceasing. It was like cuddling a hot-water-bottle that wiggled, sweat, and complained. They make for very cute complaining hot-water-bottles.
Part of what sucks with sick kids is that they don’t really understand. It also sucks that often the parents don’t really understand. Communication struggles and an inability to fix it for the oh-so-frequent-virus-to-be-ridden-out is a combo of disastrous proportions. Attempting to alleviate their discomforts, tempt them into taking in some fluids, and be sure it doesn’t turn into something more serious (a scary but real possibility for our child with a congenital heart defect), all we can do is hope to make it through, grateful it’s not something more serious.
As I spent days holding these small human wood burning stoves on my lap trying to comfort and monitor them, I had ample opportunity to take Monty Python’s advice and attempt to look on the bright side of life. Here are the 9 Selfish Reasons I Love It When My Kids Are Sick:
- Immune system boosting. Just think, when we beat this thing our immune systems will be that much stronger! And then maybe we will get another 3 months before we’re sick again. Maybe.
- Legitimate reason for my house to be trashed. Hours of holding and soothing don’t leave much time for house cleaning. They may bounce back in a few days but it’s going to take at least a good week for the house to recover.
- Naps for all! They can’t sleep alone, if they can sleep at all, and the only way to cope with holding a child size heater for hours is to sleep with them if you can. There are three times a year I really get to take a nap if I’m lucky: Mother’s Day, if I’m sick, and if my children are sick.
- Good reason to stay in pajamas. With all the sitting around and napping required for them to get better not to mention the high probability you’ll end up wearing snot or puke, there’s no point in changing. Embrace the moment and hang out in your pajamas all day and it won’t seem like a big deal when you notice that giant snot smear on your shoulder.
- Minimal cooking. They cry out if you leave them to pee so cooking is almost completely out of the question. Make one big batch of chicken soup and hope it lasts until everyone’s well so all you have to do is reheat it. The only time being lazy means you win at meals.
- Have to stay home. It’s not that I’m antisocial, it’s that sometimes I really appreciate a reason to be antisocial. Sorry, can’t do that thing, I have a sick kid to take care of and I dare not leave the house. Besides, people hear there’s a fever in your tribe and they don’t want you around anyway.
- Reminder that I love the crazy. Even my crazy schedule and manic juggling of activities and responsibilities is a relief after sickness. I appreciate health so much more; mine, theirs, everyone else’s, nothing like a week with sick kids to help me appreciate health and the crazy busy schedules.
- Excuse to OD on animated movies. Sick kid, mommy’s lap, and a stream of our favorite animated movies. Cuddled up together we take in all
mytheir favorites. Suffering through Finding Nemo, The Thief and the Cobbler, Frozen, Brave, and Charlotte’s Web means I keep up with my skills to be able to quote these and other films line by line. - Lifetime of cuddles. Once kids develop their own means of mobility, cuddles become a passing affair and you’re lucky to catch them when you can. But when they are sick, they soak up cuddles like a sponge. If your cuddle meter was feeling neglected, a couple of days with sick kids can refill it for life.
When our kids are sick there’s really not much we can do but roll with it, taking the punches fevers as they come. There really isn’t much to enjoy about the experience but hey, it can help to always look on the bright side of life.
~Jessica