Since we’ll be traveling next week—with a newborn! and a three-year-old! yay! not!—it seems fitting that I share with you my take on how to deal with health emergencies when you travel.
(Actually, I’m asking you to go read this to make me look good to my editor. I’ve been slow getting back to work and I need y’all to make her remember why she loves me, m’kay?)
*bats eyelashes pathetically*
***
I don’t consider myself a reactionary parent.
I’m pretty lax with the small stuff when it comes to my 3-year-old. Choosing your battles is a hard lesson to learn, but it’s possibly the most valuable one—at least it has been for me.
Like when your kid wants M&Ms for breakfast and won’t take no for an answer. Sometimes, it’s OK to give in. Sure, it isn’t the healthiest way to start the day, but what the heck.
Ya gotta live a little, no?
But when it comes to my daughter’s physical well being, I can be a bit of stickler. Since she started preschool this past fall, it seems like she’s been ill 51 out of 52 weeks. Strep throat, bronchitis, a staph infection on her face, and various viruses and head colds kept her home almost more than she went to school.
Even so, I try to keep my head and only take her to the doctor when I really have to. Not only does she carry on like I’m cutting her leg off, but any mom worth her salt knows that doctor’s offices and emergency rooms are teeming with germs.
Wanna get sick? Dude, go see your doctor. One year we picked up the World’s Worst Stomach Flu at her pediatrician’s office.
September 12th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Having had to hit the ER with my twins way back when they were 4, and being that we were 1500 miles from home, how I wish this had been around 14 years ago.
This is great information! It’s something I think every parent should have bookmarked, just in case!
September 12th, 2008 at 9:57 am
You may have saved someone some serious moolah by suggesting that call to insurance while en route.
Brilliant.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Argh. I get nervous reading this stuff because I feel like it’s going to jinx me into needing the information next time we travel. But I bit the bullet and plowed through anyway. I know preparation is key. But I’m a bad little Girl Scout.
Great article, as usual!
September 12th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I just commented over there. Great info–and unfortunately I know from recent experience.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
ha! handy post for me!
September 12th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
you moms, I swear…I don’t know how you do it
September 12th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I’m sure I got mono in our local Urgent Care. It is the absolute worst place to have to go. I can only think of a couple of times that we have been to the Pedi that we didn’t have a stomach bug the next week..nearly every time….we changed doctors and it hasn’t happened since.