Word: sickness
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According to Johnson, all the best facilities combined can accommodate just a few thousand of those sick kids per day. So what happens to the rest? Many of those who can't stay home or go to work with a parent wind up with a helpful friend or relative. And while it's tough to sneak even mildly ill babies and toddlers into day care, every parent knows a little cough suppressant and Tylenol can work wonders for school-age children. Worst of all, thousands of older sick kids stay home alone...
Johnson and other advocates would like to see several options for sick-child care in every community, ranging from informal networks of family day-care providers to more clinical settings. Here's an overview of some of those options...
Finally, telecommuting is often touted as an indirect benefit for parents of sick children. Says a New York City lawyer who occasionally works from home when one of his three kids is sick and his wife has to work: "It's a lousy way to spend a workday, but I'm glad I have a job that gives me the freedom to do it when it's essential." Several years ago, his employer started offering in-home care for sick kids, but he never signed up for the service, and he hopes he never...
Such ambivalence is painfully familiar to Amy Ladd, former director of a sick-child facility in Terre Haute, Ind., that closed because its sponsoring hospital needed to cut costs. "Everybody screams for sick-child care, but they absolutely won't touch it unless they have to--and then only if Grandma can't do it and Mommy and Daddy can't change their schedules and the baby-sitter is not available. Parents just prefer to stay home...
What's more, says Ladd, the benefit can be a double-edged sword. While employees are initially grateful, eventually they start to realize, "Wow, they'd do anything to keep me at work. They don't care if I have to leave my sick baby." When that resentment starts to build, says Ladd, "I tell folks to stay home...