Weathering The Season of Sick

Is there anything worse than the season of sick (roughly September – March) with little kids at home? Last week, my son battled the stomach bug and this morning it seems to have hit my girls. On-going vomiting and pooping is the ABSOLUTE worst. I’m praying it doesn’t hit me because I don’t know who’ll take care of my kids if I’m trapped in the bathroom all day.


Hazmat Suits & Lysol Bombs


You feel completely helpless when your kids are sick. It’s one reason good moms feel like terrible ones. You’d love to climb into a Hazmat suit and wonder why nobody has ever invented a Lysol bomb (much like a bug bomb) you can set it off to kill all the germs in the entire house.

I feel you moms. The season of sick is enough to drive you to the brink. There’s really nothing you can do, but hunker down and prepare for the duration. Clear liquids, blankets, tissues, bland foods, check, check, check, check. Moms prepare like a blizzard is about to hit.

I wonder what it must be like to be my husband. Wave goodbye to the vomiting, pooping children on your way out to start the day. What’s that like to not have to clean vomit and poop all before you’ve downed your first cup of coffee? Is that why motherhood is so special?


The Parenting Battlefield


We breathe through our mouths, filled only with concern for our kids. We scrub puke out of carpets, wash disgusting bedding, bathe little sick bodies and carry on with anything else that must be done. I often think of parenting as a battlefield.

Moms are ALWAYS fighting for our kids; for their safety, their emotional well-being, their education, their attention, gratitude and happiness. We’re fighting and when the season of sick hits it’s all hands on deck in the triage tent. We’re trying to quarantine the rest of the family, which is no easy task.

I wish I had some tips for you. I wish I had some magical cure for the season of sick. I wish I could take away the feeling of helplessness for you as you check temperatures, watch them while their sleeping, stress about how little they’re eating or drinking, dragging multiple kids to doctors’ offices where most of the time they send you home with the advice to keep doing what you’re doing. But this is the season of SUCK!


Surviving The Storm


You hunker down and just try to survive it. I often think of the season of sick as the time a mom really shines. I know you’re thinking I’m sitting in sweats waiting for someone to puke on me, what’s so shiny about that? This is when we turn off our own instincts. When most people are running from the room as the atrocious smells start to invade their noses, we’re running toward the smells, with buckets, towels and outstretched arms. The day I REALLY knew I was a mom to my very core was when my oldest daughter was a toddler. She was about to throw up and I cupped my hands in front of her to catch it.

I guess I figured it’d be easier to wash my hands than scrub the carpet. There’s no thought to the disgustingness of our kids’ illnesses. Sure, after it’s all cleaned up and they’re back in good health we recoil in horror at the memories. Motherhood is a truly dirty job. But we shine in the dirt and grime, in the puke and poop, in the horror and sorrow of sickness. We are the firefighters running into the burning building. We are holding and comforting, while silently sending up prayers not to get sick ourselves. In the moment, nothing else matters but their comfort.

Hang in there mamas! The season of sick will be over soon. Not that they won’t get sick during the rest of the year, but with any luck it won’t be this frequent. We should get a little more time before we’re called to the triage tent again. In the meantime, remember the warriors you are when you’re busy with the messy task of comforting your sick kids.

Erin Johnson a.k.a. The No Drama Mama can be found writing on her blog The No Drama Mama when she’s not wiping poop or snot off her three adorable kiddos. This frugal, “tell it like it is” mama has NO time for drama, so forget your perfect parenting techniques and follow her on Facebook or Twitter for her delightfully imperfect parenting wins and fails. Her work can also be found on Money Saving Mom, Mamapedia and Hudson Valley Parent magazine.