Latest news with #sickdays
Globe and Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Globe and Mail
Staying home with the kids on sick days taught me how to survive the summer
First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. Have a story to tell? See our guidelines at I often have one of our children home sick with me. I used to complain and say, 'Not again!' But we have four kids, and as my husband and I remind each other: This is what we signed up for. Over the past year, I've started to shift my mindset. Now, when someone's sick, I tell myself – and them – that today is the best day ever. I learned to reframe the day as a chance to create something magical, even something tiny. It's not just for them. It's for you, too. Parents throw around the term 'survival mode' a lot, even when the stress is mild. But stress – big or small – still shifts the energy in a room. Kids feel it. And they're too young to carry that weight. I try to be conscious of what I'm projecting, because the more lightness I bring, the more safety and space they feel to just be kids. Of course, having a sick child at home can throw the whole day off. It sucks – as my three-year-old recently learned to say. You're stuck. Plans are ruined; nothing gets done. But sometimes I imagine myself years from now, and I know: I'd love to come back to one of these days – slow and tender sick days when magic unfolded because I chose to rewrite the story. Is your kid sad about school ending? Here's how you can support them The magic is in the simplest things. We guess what the birds are singing to each other. We tickle backs – 'siri-siri,' my Estonian grandma used to call it, her made-up word that's now woven into our family language. We use my phone as a magical magnifying glass to find invisible elves – päkapikud, in Estonian – hiding in corners of our home. I upload photos of our rooms and bring in friendly dragons and creatures using AI. One day, my daughter declared, 'That dragon is making my carpet dirty!' We turned her preschool retelling into a full-on saga. We spray lavender mist on pillows and call it fairy spray. We lay out clothes for the next day and name them 'scarecrows.' We dream up stories, make paintings come to life and build imaginary worlds together. These sick-day experiences have led me to rethink our expensive summer plans for them, too. When they are feeling well, we go on 'midnight walks.' Not literally at midnight, but after dinner, in pyjamas, just before nightfall. Sometimes we get other parents in on it, and all our kids – wide-eyed in PJs – run into each other during our secret little adventure. The neighbourhood feels dreamier simply because it's dark and we're out later than usual. On summer nights, we stay up for a 'midnight snack' with a single candle, a wish and some peanut butter toast with honey. We talk about our day. These are the things they'll remember – not the themed day camps or overscheduled summer programs. Don't get me wrong: They're still signed up for plenty of those, but I've learned not to confuse enrichment with memory-making. You don't need to spend a dollar to create something meaningful. Our broken dishwasher once became a bubble station. A restaurant with a DJ became a dance floor for our family just because we let the kids get up and move. Sometimes it's as simple as noticing how the sun glistens on the leaves or water and marvelling at how sparkly life can be. Is 'good job' really a terrible thing to say to our kids? There's a small window in childhood where everything still has the potential to be magic, where what you say becomes the truth. Where kids live in a state neurologists compare to a waking dream. They want to believe. And often, we need the reminder to believe alongside them. I still remember hiding under the porch as a kid, clutching a glittery candy tube, whispering spells and hoping a unicorn would appear. I was probably too old to believe, but I didn't want to let go. I still don't. For as terrible as I think my memory is sometimes, that moment stuck. Now, I watch my own kids chase sparks. Every night, we eat by candlelight or under twinkling lights. My toddler closes her eyes and says, 'Thank you for all the rainbows in our tummies.' It started as a joke; now we all say it. Because it's silly and sweet and strange – and it makes the moment stick. I am flipping the script on what's supposed to be meaningful and memorable. Sometimes, the highlight of a child's week is helping a ladybug return to a leaf. Let's travel into their whimsical worlds. Sick days. Slow days. Off days. These aren't the throwaway ones. Sometimes, they're the whole point. Kaili Colford lives in Toronto.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Mental health sick days soar by 5m in just a year
Britons took an extra 5m sick days for mental health reasons last year after a surge in conditions including stress, anxiety and depression. Staff took a record 20.5m days off because of mental health in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics, up from 14.8m in 2023. This accounted for 13.7pc of all sick days taken in Britain, the highest proportion since 2019. Jamie O'Halloran, senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the figures reflect 'the tip of the iceberg' as many employees continue working even when they are unwell. He said: 'We must do more to prevent avoidable ill health and create workplaces that support people with health conditions to get into – and stay in – work. 'The lack of progress on mental health is particularly alarming and must become a greater priority for both public health policy and employer strategy.' Poor mental health appears to be more prevalent in the public sector, where it accounted for 16.4pc of absences last year – compared with 6.7pc in the private sector. There has been a surge in diagnoses of mental health conditions such as anxiety and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Overall ill health is also more problematic in the public sector, where it accounts for an absence rate of 2.9pc compared with 1.8pc for private companies. The latest figures also show that it is not only those in work taking time off because of sickness. The number of people of working age who are economically inactive – neither in work nor looking for a job – because of ill health has surged to 2.8m, up from 2.1m before the Covid pandemic. In total, workers took 149m sick days in 2024, which is down 10pc on the previous year. The number of days taken for minor illnesses dropped by a third to 33m, while workers took 26.5m days for musculoskeletal problems, roughly the same as 2023. The overall sickness rate, which charts absences as a share of all working hours, fell to 2pc. As a result the proportion of sick days is back to its pre-pandemic level. Sam Atwell, at the Health Foundation, a charity, said sick employees must be supported to prevent them from dropping out of work altogether. 'Warning sign' 'Employers and government alike should be concerned by these findings as extended or repeated episodes of sickness absence can be a warning sign that an employee is at risk of leaving the workforce and becoming economically inactive,' he said. 'Employers have a key role to play in ensuring that workers are provided with adequate sick pay and are actively supported during sickness absence. 'Our analysis shows that the UK statutory sick pay rate is among the least generous across all OECD countries.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
UK workers are taking less sick days as figures reveal new average
The average number of sick days taken by UK workers has fallen, according to new data, as the average amount taken by each worker is revealed. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that 148.9 million working days were lost due to illness or injury in 2024. This equates to 2 per cent of total working hours – a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from the previous year. Minor illnesses were the most frequent cause of absence, accounting for nearly a third of all cases. Musculoskeletal problems were the next most common reason, responsible for 15.5 per cent of absences. The ONS data indicated that women, older employees, individuals with long-term health issues, part-time workers, and public sector employees had the highest rates of sick leave in 2024. The average time lost per worker in 2024 was 4.4 days. Amanda Walters, director of the Safe Sick Pay campaign, an alliance campaigning for sick pay reform, said: 'The fall in sickness absence may seem a positive development but the figures mask the fact that far too many UK workers regularly go to work when they are too ill. 'We are amongst the least likely to take sick days in Europe as our woeful statutory sick pay system is forcing millions of people to drag themselves into work ill, risking their long term health because they need to pay the bills. This costs the economy billions in lost productivity. 'The Government is fixing one part of the problem by improving sick pay coverage for some lower earners in the employment Bill, but is not doing enough to sort out the sorry state of our sick pay system. 'The weekly rate of sick pay remains just £3 an hour for a full time worker. If we are serious about improving the health of the working age population, the Government needs to stop ignoring the elephant in the room and put statutory sick pay in line with the minimum wage.' Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, said: 'Enabling people to take time off when they are sick to get better and return to work in good health is critical for a robust and successful labour market. 'Workers feeling unable to take time to recover and recuperate can lead to health issues becoming more serious over time, increasing the risk that they might join the near record number of people who are already out of the labour market due to ill health. 'The UK's statutory sick pay of £118.75 a week is lower than the majority of OECD countries, and our research shows that 47 per cent of UK businesses do not pay above the statutory minimum. 'This can mean those who rely on statutory sick pay can face a choice between making ends meet or looking after their health.'
