🤒 Sick child at home checklist

For the day a child is too unwell for school and somebody has to juggle work around them — comfort first, then the calls that need making.

17 items

1. School informed as early in the day as possibleSome schools ask for a reason and an expected return date — check what yours needs.
2. Work informed and a plan agreed for the dayWorking from home, a partner covering the morning, or booking the day off — decided early rather than juggled by lunchtime.
3. Temperature checked and the time notedA written note of when and what it was is more useful later than a memory of 'quite warm'.
4. A thermometer kept somewhere you can actually find itNot the once-a-year search through a bathroom cabinet.
5. Plenty of fluids offered little and oftenSmall, frequent sips are easier to keep down than a full glass in one go.
6. A comfortable spot set upSofa, cushions and a blanket within reach of you, not upstairs alone all day.
7. A bowl or bucket kept nearbyFor sickness — having it ready without making a fuss about it helps more than a scramble once it's needed.
8. Quiet activities readyMore screen time than usual is a reasonable trade-off for a day spent resting rather than fought over.
9. Any existing prescribed medication continued exactly as directedBy whoever prescribed it — don't start, stop or change anything on your own judgement.
10. Symptoms and timings written down as they happenUseful to have to hand if you do end up calling a doctor, rather than trying to reconstruct the day from memory.
11. The GP surgery's number and NHS 111 kept handyRing when anything feels uncertain rather than waiting to see — that's exactly what both exist for.
12. A clear sense of what would make you call a doctor today rather than waitGet that answer from 111 or the surgery if you're not sure — better to ask and be told it's nothing than to sit on a worry.
13. Other children in the house looked after tooA sibling still needs breakfast and a lift to school even on a day the house is upside down.
14. A backup plan if the illness runs into a second dayWho covers work, and whether anyone else needs telling, decided before the second morning arrives rather than during it.
15. Rest treated as the whole job for the dayNot the day to also catch up on homework or chores — recovering is enough on its own.
16. Handwashing and a wipe-down of shared surfacesTo keep it from working its way through the rest of the house.
17. School's return policy checkedMany ask for a clear period free of sickness or diarrhoea before coming back — worth checking rather than guessing at the number of days.