Daddies aren’t supposed to get sick. That must be a rule among little kids because they never believe that Daddy feels like crap and needs to be left alone for a while.
It’s funny how little respect my five-year-old has for my illnesses considering how much attention he demands on his own sick days. When he’s sick, the house is his palace and the other people who live there are his servants. Before the sundry whims which may require action from Mommy and Daddy, there are certain base-line needs that should be met without him having to ask. He needs the entire couch commandeered for his reclining wants, and the TV tuned to cartoons for the duration of his infirmity. Beyond this, he needs a ready attendant to keep the blanket covering his feet should it slip when he changes position. And juice. There must always be juice at hand.
“Um, does somebody want to get on this?”
When I am sick, I mostly need the people in my house to leave me alone. I can get my own juice and fluff my own pillows; I just don’t want people climbing all over me or demanding that I supply juice to maintain them in the pink of health. I want to be left to myself. Apparently, this is a burdensome request.
If I am home from work when my son gets home from school, it likely means I’m ill. To him, it means play time starts early. He greets me with his favorite question, “Daddy, what can we play?” When I tell him I’m too sick to play, it’s a disappointment to him. But he’s a resilient lad, and he sloughs off the disappointment with everything else I’ve told him, so that within five minutes, he sees the world fresh and asks with renewed enthusiasm, “Daddy, what can we play?”
He is not the only one who easily forgets why I am at home at this unusual time. My wife does not think I make a very good patient either. She says I don’t complain enough when I’m sick; therefore I appear to be little more than a slacker playing hooky from work. If I moaned and groaned a bit more, she would perhaps be reminded that I do not need to be whipped up out my laziness with a steady course of housework.
Besides, your family has chores for you to do. (Image: Ontario Medical Association)
There is always laundry to be done, and since I am neither comatose nor moaning, as a truly ill person would be, I might as well use this down time to lend a hand to operational needs of the household. She has this look she gives when the dryer finishes its cycle that says, “If you didn’t want to work today, you should have gone into the office.”
“Are you guys home sick from work too?”
I was taught to suffer quietly, so I can only blame my parents. If they had raised a squeakier wheel, maybe that wheel could get a sufficient break from playing games and folding towels to get a little rest when it was sick.
Snoozing on the Sofa 
It’s the same way around here, but my husband is such a giant baby… One little sniffle and he’s out for a week. So when he is honestly, really, terribly sick, I don’t always buy it. Take a lap.
Naptime – Your comment made me laugh, because my husband is the same way. If he coughs once during the evening, then I already know that he’s going to call in sick the next day. Like you, that makes it hard for me to believe him when he truly is sick. Men can be such drama queens. ha!
Mine is the same. I think that plus the fact that I don’t get any time off for being sick makes me into a big old cynic who thinks Hubs should just toughen up. Sometimes I feel bad for thinking that way. But only sometimes!
I feel the same way, sorry Dad. I know he gets sick, and he is good to me when I’m sick, but he’s such a drama queen… I love him, but take a lap.
Wow. Don’t let those big babies pull the wool over your eyes, ladies. Put ’em to work!
I must say that I’m impressed by your willingness to help out even when you’re sick. That is a rare trait among men.
I’ve discovered that a little kindness goes a long way. Even at home.
It certainly does.
I hate to break it to you, but those things you’ve got growing around the house (Let’s call them children) are probably going to be self-absorbed for the next dozen years or so. Right now you’re just a juice dispenser with a personality 🙂
I am a juice dispenser, but you may be giving me too much credit for personality.
I’m with you, Scott. When I’m sick I just want to be left alone. I am an expert at wallowing in self-pity.
And sometimes it’s fun to do even when you’re not sick.
Can you teach my husband how to do a little housework while sick? Or even when he’s perfectly healthy. You’re looking like a rockstar to me now.
It’s too late now. You made the mistake of marrying a young man. My wife did it right and married an old fart who had to learn to do these thing for himself when there was nobody else to take care of him.
Ha!
No rest for the wicked(ly sick)!
I made my bed, and now I have to not sleep in it.
My poor friend. You must be the ONLY man I know who is NOT milking his sick days. Acting is EXTREMELY important when you find the courage and decide you’re too ill to go to work.
Read this and learn…
http://pieterk515.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/man-vs-woman-vs-being-sick/
When the day comes that I can be sick and have the house all to myself, I’ll follow your advice. Until then, it’s more peaceful at work.
I hear you. I forget you’re still a toddler-daddy. How I love teenagers…Just want to grab a few and eat them…
I can’t wait.