Hellobee Boards

No, I don't get nervous calling in. My school is family friendly and I hardly call out for myself, so when I'm not there they understand it is legitimate. Pretty much all the staff has their kids in daycare or school, so administration understands. We get 5 family sick days on top of our 15 sick days/year.

@Alba4: Wow that is an amazing sick policy! I only get 5 days total to share between myself getting sick and watching sick kids!

@regberadaisy: I do always feel bad / guilty because I'm the only one with really young kids at my work so I feel like others don't really understand how often they get sick and might think I'm abusing it...but I always get my work done and am usually online even if I'm home so hopefully they really don't mind.

Yikes!! I hope they all feel better!

I mean yeah I feel bad, but if I have to do it, I have no choice and it's my PTO to use!

@Alba4: We have about the same. Though they never ask us to differentiate between sick for yourself or for you kid so they kind of just blend together.

I am out today after being out for a personal day on Monday AND it's the day before vacation so I feel a bit sketchy. But LO woke up having an allergic reaction and no way was I sending her to DC. Honestly I feel less guilty staying home with her than I did before when it was just myself. For me I feel like I should be able to suck it up (and I would most times) but for her I feel like it's not fair to her or her caretakers to send her if she's truly sick (even if it's not something contagious like today).

I think it's hard when the people you work with don't have kids or don't have a good friend or sibling that is in our shoes. My department at work gets it but DH's department does not get it as much so then I take more time because my group gets it more and I miss more work.
I hope your family feels better soon!

Nope, not at all. My boss is awesome and super understanding and believes family always comes first, so he never had any problem with me not being able to come in because of the kids.

I don't get nervous. It is what it is and they are well aware that it has to be me taking time off at the beginning of the year and when T is away for work.

Yeah, sometimes I worry that it's being perceived as too much. I try to split it with DH, but I'm the one who's usually home with DS in the morning before daycare (so if he wakes up sick I'm already with him) and I'm the one daycare calls during the day to tell me he's come down with something. I always try to casually drop the info when DH's home with DS, so my boss knows it's not always me.

I used to feel bad calling in sick. I'm currently on sick day 2 for myself and I don't feel bad at all. I've realized I need to take care of myself and family first, and the work can wait. No one else is going to put you and your family first.

The responses here are interesting because not long ago we had a similar discussion with our friends, and the women said they felt bad, but none of the men said that.