5 Special Things We Do For Our Children When They Are Sick (and 1 Thing We Rarely Do!)

Is your kid sick? I hate it when my kids are sick. I always wish I could trade places with them and they could always be healthy, happy and germ free. These mom hacks for sick kids help to make their illnesses a bit less traumatic though.

Here are just a few of the special things we do for our children when they are sick:

Eat or drink whatever they want/can – We are not picky with their diet when they are sick. Oh, the only thing you think you can get down is Sonic mozzarella sticks…let me ask daddy to pick up an order on the way home from work.

9 times out of 10, when our kids are sick, they just want crackers (and my daughter wants my chicken soup), but when they do start getting an appetite back, we let them have all the treats they want (until it’s clear they are milking it!).

Kiddos are not sick in this pic thankfully (and neither is the pup), but they are on my unmade bed!

Sleep in our bed – When our kids are sick, they sleep in our bed during the day. This is probably kind of selfish, because their bedrooms are upstairs and I don’t feel like running up and down the stairs a billion times to check on them, but they really do consider it a real treat. At bedtime, we move them to a couch in our room (so we can try to stay  healthy!). I am super weird about keeping an eye on them when they are sick, so having them right there actually helps ME.

Wait on them hand and foot – We are very much so, “if you can do it yourself, why am I doing it for you?” parents. Sure we sometimes do things for them out of the kindness of our hearts (and because we’re their parents), but when they are sick…I’ll do darn near anything for them.

I go overboard I think, but I want them to have great memories of how Mommy made them feel special and cared for when they were ill. I’d rather them remember that then that time they threw up 15 times in an hour!

(If I run to the store to get them medicine, I usually come back with a little toy or treat for them too)

Keep them apart – What’s worse than a sick kid? Two sick kids.

Contrary to the picture above, our kids are very close. They were born 22 months apart, so at times, I think they think they are twins. Even though they’ll tell you that they fight a lot, they really don’t and honestly they stick very close to each other most of the time. They even sleep together sometimes. When they sit on the couch, they tend to sit on top of each other almost.

When they are sick though, we try to keep them far apart. Since I am the designated sick child caregiver (I would much rather ME get sick than my husband. I can truck through it a *bit* better than he can 😉 ) , my husband often has the luxury of keeping the other child busy and well cared for.

I stick to them like glue – I honestly never really noticed this until this past illness. My daughter had a stomach bug, but I had a big PTA thing the next day. It was super important to me that I was there (the topic that was going to be discussed could dramatically change my children’s school), but my mom guilt at leaving her home without me was HUGE (don’t worry, my husband worked from home that day). I did it, but it was SO out of my comfort zone. I came home and basically stuck to her like glue for the next two days. I feel better about her feeling sick when I know I am doting upon her!

Don’t take them to the doctor – Finally, we don’t usually take them to the doctor! It’s VERY rare that my kids go to the doctor for sick visits. If I highly suspect they have strep or flu, I will take them, but that’s it. My reasons are twofold:

#1 – Kids get sick! They just do. It’s important for their immune system to learn how to deal with illness. If things go too far, I’ll take them to get an antibiotic but that is super rare. Usually, their little bodies just fight whatever is attacking them off within a few days.

#2 – Their immune systems are already compromised and I’m going to expose them to even MORE germs by taking them to the sickie side of the pediatricians office? Then the pediatrician is just going to tell me it’s a  virus/cold anyway and they can’t do anything about it. What’s the point? I don’t go to the doctor for every sniffle, so I definitely wouldn’t take my kids for every little thing.

What are some special things you do for your kids when they are sick? Comment below!