My baby is sick…
My day didn’t start off great.
Lots of things going on with my job right now. I had been thinking about it non-stop, even in my sleep.
I woke up at 5.30, worked till 6.30, headed to the wet market, made breakfast, then I finally could leave home at 9.00.
But the office was locked… I had to work at a cafe.
I went back home at noon. There was a heavy rain in the morning, then sunlight came back all of the sudden. This is the typical weather for sickness in Hanoi.
Around 2.30pm, my son started to burn up…
- At 3.00, he was 37.2 degrees Celsius
- At 4.30, 38.00 degrees Celsius
- At 5.00, 38.4 degrees Celsius
I had to give him medicine to lower his temperature…
Finally it hits 8.22, he is trying his best to sleep with his stuffy nose. My little guy, only 1 year old, is still burning up, but he is too sleepy to stay awake. I have to rehydrate him anytime he changes position. He loves this drink for a reason, and this drink brings his temperature down…
Still, lots of things haven’t been done today…
I switch Claude Code in auto mode and bring the brightness down to the lowest, quietly place the laptop on a nightstand…
When you are a mom, you know that you cannot leave your child alone when he is sick. A lot could go wrong:
- he could stop breathing because of stuck nose
- he could vomit
- he could burn up and no one beside him would notice
A sick child is terrifying for parents. It’s that feeling when you arrive at work, but you can’t concentrate because you’re constantly worried about your sick child at home.
How to deal with work when your child is sick?
- Switch to “Nightstand Mode”: Bring your laptop right to the bedside. Lower your screen brightness all the way down, turn off key clicks, and set mobile to silent. This lets you stay right next to them in the dark while staying available.
- Autopilot tasks: this is what I did with Claude Code. Use smart tools, automation, or scheduled tasks to do the heavy lifting for you. Let background processes run while you focus on caregiving.
- Work in tiny micro-pockets: Forget trying to focus for hours at a time. Work for 15-20 minutes, take a break by checking up on your child in between.
- Keep medicine and drinks around: Prepare rehydration drinks, fever medication, and a thermometer ahead of time on your nightstand.
- Simplify meals: Do not stress about cooking elaborate food. Stick to super quick market buys or simple dishes so you save all time and energy.
- Accept that your child comes first: Some days, work simply has to wait. Monitoring their breathing, fever spikes, and comfort is your only real job, the rest can wait when he gets better.
Tips to deal with tasks aftermath
- Sort before you start: Don’t answer every message at once. Briefly check your inbox and pick the 2 or 3 things that actually need attention today. Leave the rest for later.
- Do the easy win first: You’re probably exhausted from lack of sleep. Pick one simple task to finish first to get your day moving without stressing yourself out.
- Do small tasks all together: Group tiny jobs, for example: quick replies, approving requests, or filing receipts, into one short 15-minute block so they don’t take over a day.
- Send a quick update to your team: Let your colleagues know you were out for a family issue and are catching up. It sets expectations so people won’t rush you.
- Don’t try to fix everything in one day: You can’t clear a week’s worth of work in eight hours. Stop at your normal time, get a good night’s sleep, and tackle the rest tomorrow.
In the end
Balancing a career while caring for a feverish toddler isn’t easy. There will be days when your carefully planned schedule completely collapses. Missing work due to sick child is not failure, it is simply being a parent. Give yourself grace, leverage simple systems to keep critical tasks moving, and focus on what matters most today: getting your little one back to full health. The work will still be waiting tomorrow, and you will tackle it one step at a time.
