What Having the 24-Hour Flu Taught Me About Parenting

What the 24-hour flu taught me about parenting
What the 24-hour flu taught me about parenting

I'm just now crawling out of bed after being struck down with a quick and dirty case of the nasty stomach bug.

Without going into too many details, I went to bed Monday night feeling great, woke up around 3am thinking my world was ending, and now, 30 hours later, despite feeling super tired and weak, I'm starting to see glimpses of my old self reappearing.

I didn't get out of bed or leave the confines of my bedroom for over 30 hours, In fact, my husband locked our bedroom door so no little person could bother me. And while I was sequestered away from my husband and family all day, I realized a thing or two about my life as a stay-at-home-mom and my relationship with my children.

I realized I missed them a whole lot.

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I realize that I take for granted my everyday normal life that I oftentimes refer to as mundane and boring. I often whine to my husband that his work life outside the home is so exciting, and mine can be boiled down to: eat, sleep, play, clean and repeat.

But yesterday, as I laid sick in bed, listening to my everyday life go on without me, I painfully missed my routine. I missed playing with baby Paul in the morning, and then rocking him to sleep for his nap. I missed making lunch with my three year old, and having him help prepare our meal.

I missed going to the library with the boys, something we do every Tuesday after lunch. And I missed picking my big girls up from school, and asking them what the best part of their day was.

Basically, while having the flu was a horrible experience physically, it taught me so much about my role in this family. Being a mom to four little kids is really REALLY hard (for me, anyway), but when it's unexpectedly taken away, I realized just how much I miss my kids. And how much I adore my everyday life.

And sure, don't get me wrong. I love planned moments away from my kids, like when I hire a babysitter in advance. But yesterday totally threw me for a loop. I could hear baby Paul downstairs, and I couldn't care for him. I could hear the big girls working on their homework, and I couldn't work on it with them.

I went a whole day without kisses and hugs from my family, and it was almost worse than the sickness itself.

The flu, it taught me just how much love and need my family. I'm not going to go as far as saying getting sick was a good thing, but maybe I deep down needed a day of reflection, to better appreciate my kids.

- By Emily Elling
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