Q:   How much time do you lose from work having to stay home with a sick child?

A. Most parents find that a great deal of time is missed from work during a child's first year of life (usually more than a week per child). However, as the child grows up, the amount of work missed usually decreases substantially.

Q:   When a child is sick, which parent stays home?

A: One parent can stay home for the entire day while the other parent works. This is usually based on workload/activity. When it is impossible for one parent to take the entire day off from work, parents can provide "tag-team" care for the sick child. This option usually involves one parent staying home in the morning and going to work in the afternoon, possibly working later into the evening. The other parent will work mornings, leaving earlier in the morning so as to accomplish as much work as possible. Some parents find this second option to be inconvenient and will try to use the first option whenever possible.

To avoid situations where it is impossible for one parent to miss a full day of work,parents will often attempt to coordinate their schedules so that important projects/meetings are not scheduled on the same day.

Q:   If neither parent can stay home with a sick child, what other options are available?

A: Here are several options:

1. Find a family member or friend to care for the sick child.
2. Use in-home sick child care. In some areas, licensed health aides can be hired to come into your home and care for a sick child. Often these aides are authorized to take temperatures and administer medications although some health aides are not allowed to administer *any* medications (including prescribed antibiotics or fever/pain medication). These services are sometimes subsidized by a parent's employer.
3. Use sick child-care centres. These centres, often located in pediatric hospital departments are particularly useful with older preschoolers and children of an early elementary school age. However, some sick child-care centres require 24 hrs notice and will not accept contagious children (e.g. chicken pox) which might result in their usefulness being limited in some situations. Again, this service is sometimes subsidized by a parent's employer.
4. Sometimes the child is brought into work with one of the parents. This is a feasible alternative when the child is older and/or is only mildly sick.
5. Older children are sometimes allowed to stay home alone while both parents work.