How to determine if you should take a sick day...

My baby has felt really crappy all weekend, and Sunday night his fever shot up to 102.  My husband and I reached a consensus that, if he didn't feel better in the morning, he was staying home.  Unfortunately, I had projects at work that absolutely required I be there, so my hubby got to stay home all day with the baby.

I can't complain too much, since they cleaned the whole house.  But I always hate being at work when my little guy is not feeling well.  He still wasn't doing great last night, and he was just feeling well enough this morning to go to school.  (He's been over 24 hours without a fever now.)

But my hubby and I talked about it and, since he got yesterday off, if the preschool calls saying my son needs to come home, I'm going to get him today.  This got me to thinking about how we validate sick days.  Take the test below to determine if you should call in to work today.

• Kid has a runny nose.  (1 point)
• Kid is fussy.  (1 point)
• Kid has a low-grade fever.  (1 point)
• Kid has a high fever.  (2 points)
• Kid has diarrhea.  (-1 point)  (Let the daycare staff handle that.)
• Kid is vomiting.  (2 points)
• It's going to be really pretty today.  (1 point)
• ...And tomorrow's supposed to be cold and rainy again.  (2 points)
• You haven't had a day off in a while.  (1 point)
• You made a mistake at work yesterday.  (-2 points)  (Better go in and fix it.)
• There's a kids' movie out you really want to see.  (1 point)
• There's a special exhibit at the museum.  (2 points)
• Your SAHM friends are having their Mommy's Morning Out today and you never get to go.  (3 points)
• You were up late last night with a sick kid.  (1 point)
• You were up late last night watching Butler lose the championship and you're depressed and/or hungover today.  (3 points)
• You have a crucial staff meeting.  (-3 points)
• You have an unimportant staff meeting your boss prefers you would attend.  (1 point)
• You're 3 bars away from level 85 in World of Warcraft.  (3 points)
• You won $50 from a scratch-off lottery ticket and you want to go to the mall to buy your kid clothes that fit.  (2 points)
• You blew $50 on scratch-off lottery tickets.  (-2 points)  (And maybe call that gambling help line.)
• Your kid begs to be held and lays his head on your shoulder which, seriously, he hasn't done since he was little.  (4 points)
• You didn't get any sleep because you let the baby sleep in your bed and he somehow manages to take up the whole mattress.  (3 points)
• You didn't get any sleep because you gave up and just let him have the bed and slept on the floor.  (5 points)
• You didn't get any sleep because you made him stay in his crib and felt like a monster listening to him cry all night.  (2 points)
• You're jealous of all your pregnant friends and want to spend time with your baby to feel better.  (1 point)
• Your pool just reopened for the summer.  (5 points)
• You have errands you can't get done on the weekend.  (1 point)
• You have errands you'd rather not spend your weekend doing.  (0 points)

If you didn't score more than 30 points, suck it up and go to work.  It's what I'm doing.