Mothers send sick children to school for fear of losing their job
Katy Morton
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Nearly a fifth of mums would rather send their sick child to school than take time off work, for fear of getting behind or losing their job, according to a new survey.
The poll of 2,000 mothers of children aged four and older by Seven Seas supplement brand Haliborange, found that 23 per cent would prefer to send their sick child to school and receive a phone call to collect them than automatically take the day off.
More than 25 per cent of mums said they were worried they could lose their job if they took too much time off work to care for their sick child, and nearly a quarter said they worried about their workload when they suddenly had to drop everything to collect their child from school.
The findings also revealed that one in five mums feel guilty handing work over to colleagues if they have to leave suddenly and 13 per cent said they were made to feel guilty by their boss for taking days off to look after their sick child.
Three-quarters of mothers polled said they tried to avoid taking time off at all costs and as a result four in ten confessed to having sent their child to school knowing they weren’t feeling well.
Despite this, 86 per cent agreed that children need their mother around when they are ill more than any other person, with two-thirds of mums saying that they take time off to look after their sick child, compared to just eight per cent of dads.
According to the survey, the ‘typical’ child is ill three times a year. If a mother takes two and a half days off for each period of their child’s sickness, this works out at an extra seven and a half days off work per year.
Susan Wright from Haliborange said, ‘It is only natural that children will fall ill, but it seems the responsibility largely falls on mum to take the time off work to care for them. Taking extra days off in term-time can be a real struggle, especially in the current economic climate when people may be worried about their job security. The back to school season is often the time of year when children are more likely to come down with something.’
