Today’s working parents are able to juggle much more when their children get sick. Here’s how.
Many of us remember calling a parent at work to have them pick us up from school for a sick day, or several. Once we got home, they were out of the office and the designated caretaker until everything was better again. Now parents can juggle telehealth appointments during lunch breaks, create mobile office setups in children’s bedrooms, and coordinate care through family group chats and shared calendars. Thanks to virtual doctor visits and hybrid schedules that didn’t exist a generation ago, families are now able to handle sick days with remote work flexibility.
“No sick day is a good day, but thanks to remote work and telehealth, now they are as good as they can be,” says Dr. Tracy Burton, MD, pediatrician and chief medical officer at As You Are. Dr. Burton adds that before “telehealth was a thing,” the struggle and the juggle were real. ”It still is, but as a mom of a 10-year-old and a pediatrician who works in telehealth for a living, I am so thankful for how far we have come,” she adds.
Dr. Burton points out that lots of telehealth companies allow parents the convenience of scheduling appointments on their own schedule. This is especially important for kids who are too sick to travel or have specific needs. Dr. Burton says, “For a child, especially one with special needs, leaving the house causes a lot of stress. Being in the comfort of their own home is everything for some kids.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than two-thirds of schoolchildren missed at least one day of school because of illness or injury last year, with half being absent for up to three days.
