Words Cassidy Nunn
Photo Nunn Other Photography
Paradoxically, I’m behind on finishing this column because, if you can guess from my title … even though the sun is now shining, the daffodils are in bloom and I thought this relentless cold and flu season MUST FINALLY BE OVER, my kids are sick for the 3,450th time this year. And of course they’ve passed it along to me and my husband as well because if you are or you have been the parent of a small child, you already know that the odds are rarely in your favour once a virus has entered your home.
Pre-kids, I considered myself a healthy person. I’d get the occasional cold and I hadn’t had a flu since I was a child myself. I ate healthy, was active, luckily had no underlying health concerns and, in my humble opinion, had a decent immune system. Enter small children and the copious number of germs they bring home and suddenly it’s like my immune system just crumpled, despite my years of building it up. Or perhaps it’s that you don’t stand a chance when your sick toddler crawls into bed with you, latches onto your head like a barnacle to a rock and proceeds to cough and sneeze into your face all night long.
Before I became a parent, no one warned me to prepare for how often my kids would be sick, especially in the younger years when the little ones are building their immune systems. I know I’m not alone in this after commiserating with and seeing how many of my friends with young children are navigating this difficult season as well. I’m finding it to be one of the hardest stages of having two kids under the age of five. I’ve never had to cancel more plans or appointments in my life; it’s taken four attempts to make it to the dentist this year! We’re a two-job household with a few days of childcare/preschool coverage during the week and no grandparents living nearby. The juggling act of which parent must rearrange their work schedule to look after the sick child(ren) feels constant.
The amount of preschool and daycare my kids have missed this year must be nearly equal to the number of days they’ve attended – at least one of them has been sick every two weeks for the past seven months. And then the domino effect usually happens: one child passes the bug onto the next, then to one parent. Then the other parent, who thought they just might have lucked out and escaped it this time, usually succumbs to it! By the time we’ve all recovered from that bout of sickness, we seem to have one week of good health and then the next round knocks us all out.
Some colds are milder, but that can be tough as well because then we’re all stuck at home and the cranky, snotty-nosed kids still have the same amount of energy as normal. Which means they’re bouncing off the walls as per usual but we can’t see friends, run errands or even go to the playground since they’re still symptomatic.
So, as the kids and I are cuddled up on the couch together, a box of tissues between us (we may have single-handedly kept tissue companies in business this past year) sniffling and feeling sorry for ourselves yet again, I remind myself to continue to practice holding gratitude during these more challenging times. This season will pass. We have a roof over our heads, good food to eat and, most importantly, we have each other, even if that person may be sharing their love by coughing and sneezing it all over the rest of us. Surely summer will be better, right?!
