Working Parent's Dilemma

Mornings for working parents are a tightrope walk at best. I have to say that this year is about the best it's ever been: both kids are in middle school, I am no longer scrambling to assemble healthy lunches and snacks before 8 am, and am even in the nice habit of making a hot breakfast and sitting down for a minute before the bus comes. On the perfect morning, we all sit together and look at the paper to see what's happening in the world.

But I was reminded this week how quickly family life can slide, any time, into stress that wants to break out of the nice little walls we try to build. Waking my oldest at 6:30 or so, she looked up at me sleepily, and with real and not manufactured pain, uttered the dreaded words: Mommy, I'm sick.

I am always vaguely ashamed of the first thought in my mind at this moment. Even as my hand reaches to feel the forehead, and one part of my mind inventories the kitchen to see what I have on hand for comfort foods, the rest of me is immediately thinking, What meetings do I have today? And when? And who with? Can they be cancelled? Postponed? Can she come with me? In the space of a minute my mental space goes from calm to

Within 5 minutes or so the parameters of the day had been established. Little response to the declaration that anyone staying home sick gets no tv or internet for the day. Slight fever. No meetings. A day of rest.

Fortunately, I was able to work from home the whole day. Actually I got to enjoy making her Ramen noodles and spending time together.

And I realize how lucky I am. I've got a good job that lets me be a mom. Parents who drive a bus or punch a clock face the same demands as parents and lose a day's pay or even their jobs. The way the US economy is going, more and more jobs are service jobs, and don't offer vacation or sick time.