Sick child and office pressure -- how to deal with it?

As a working mother the worst thing you can experience is your child falling sick. The situation becomes worse when you have an important presentation to make or an appointment that can’t be rescheduled and you have an unwell child who is clinging to you. What do you do? Whatever else you do, don’t panic and here’s how you can handle the situation.

Whether it is a minor flu, a temperature or something bigger and serious, almost all mommies who work have to face this day sometime or the other, sometimes even more than once. Does that mean that you give up work and become a stay at home mom? Not really—if you plan things in advance and work smart.

How To Deal With A Situation When Your Child Falls Sick?

Let’s take a look at some possible ways to deal with this situation. What if your child falls sick and you have an important assignment to complete or an urgent meeting to attend? What does one do in such situations?

1. Don’t panic: Whatever be the reason for your child’s illness, remember not to press the panic button immediately. Try to comfort your child and give them the required medication if it is a minor problem. If required, take your child to the doctor. Overall, make them comfortable and let them know you are around
2. Complete whatever can be done from home: If there’s any part of office work that can be handled from home, attend to that as soon as you pacify your child and put them to bed
3. Email/Call your immediate boss: It’s important to let your boss know of the situation and your unavailability so that if there’s anything urgent they can find an alternate resource person to handle things. Don’t postpone this and make the situation worse. In case you know your child will take longer to recover, intimate that to your boss as well. It is best to keep the communication clear to avoid any problems that might crop up
4. Comfort your child: Because your child needs you more, especially during an illness, it is important to comfort them and to assure them that you are taking off from work to be by their side. That itself will help them relax. However, also tell them that you might have to finish some important office assignments
5. Get help from others: If possible, get someone in the office to cover up for you for a day or two. If going to office is unavoidable, get some family member to be with your child until you get back
6. Work from home: With technology taking giant strides, even calls and meetings can be attended from home in case of an emergency. Offer to finish up important tasks from home and attend calls/ meetings if they cannot wait

How Can You Find Ways to Work Smart?

It’s true that there are ways to handle office work/pressure while taking care of your sick child at home simultaneously. But every boss is not flexible enough to allow a day off. Many women complain that even when their child is ill, they are expected to turn in to office and stay on until the tasks for the day are completed. What can one do in a situation like this?

Well, women have the right to take leaves during an emergency at home, but to ensure that office work is not disturbed during an emergency leave, it is important to stay on top of things and organized so that work doesn’t get hampered during your absence. Here are some tips on how this can be done.

1. Save up on leaves: Make sure you don’t exhaust all your holidays and save some for emergency
2. Be organized: Finish your tasks on time and don’t leave anything pending everyday when you leave from work. That way even if you have to take an off, it will not create too much problems for others
3. Create a work plan at home too: Plan with your spouse beforehand and keep a Plan B ready in case of an emergency. If you have to report to work when your child is ill, your spouse can fill in for you. If that is not possible maybe someone from your extended family can pitch in for a day or for a few hours
4. Have a work buddy: Discuss your work/projects with a work buddy in office. In case you take an off, the buddy knows exactly what needs to be done
5. Discuss with your boss: It is a good idea to discuss with your boss on ways to deal with work when you are required to be at home. Perhaps they can give you a laptop to work from home at such times
6. Try to keep your child healthy: Easier said than done. Try your best to keep your child healthy by making them eat a balanced and nutritious diet. Be up-to-date with their immunizations. Of course, this is not fool proof, but this is the least you can do

Most working parents especially mommies have to tackle the problem of taking care of a sick child at home while something urgent waits to be completed at work. This is not uncommon and neither can it be avoided. In fact, it is a part of parenting. So plan in advance and finish your tasks on time.

Stay calm and handle it in the best way you can. Don’t feel guilty to be working while your child is ill. Remember you don’t need to be a supermom always but at the same time you are doing the best you can at the moment.

Did you like the blog on how to deal with your unwell child and the office pressure? Did you have to face the similar issues? How did you deal with it? Please share your views and feedback in the comments section below.