What's it like having young kids in the age of covid?

[kimber77]

I've always wanted kids, but I'm sick with covid and starting to wonder what that would look like with small kids.

My wife and I both just got sick with covid for the first time. I'm on day 8 and still testing positive, my wife got sick when I was on day 5. It seems like with 4-5 people in the house it would take almost a month from when the first person gets sick to everyone recovering.

How many times have you all gotten covid? Is it really once or twice a year like they said once it became clear it's not going away? How much of each year are you either sick or quarantined from covid?

I think I still want kids, but I need to know what I'm getting into.

 

[zwrrel]

@kimber77 Nowadays? It seems like a non issue. During the onset of the pandemic it was a living hell.

ETA: I don’t think anyone in my house ever got it but the testing and lockdowns and no childcare were the challenging part. They don’t even make kids test for it at school in our state anymore if they are sick. Its blended in with all the other illnesses now.

 

[nathanh83]

@kimber77 Oddly enough we have never all gotten it at the same time. I have had it twice. My husband has had it once, but at a different time than either of my illnesses. And our son (almost 3) has never caught it.

 

[enchanteddjsnj]

@kimber77 It was… not fun. Now, it’s not really a thing for us. Our kids are vaccinated and… we all catch everything that’s going around anyway.

 

[josephcamline]

@kimber77 I’m high risk. My entire house just got it for the first time ever over the summer. My youngest was born less than a week before the world shut down. My oldest started kindergarten last year and we saw a TON of sickness. We somehow got Covid and nobody has had any ”school cancelling” sickness since. *knock on wood, because sickness if EVERYWHERE!*. This also includes my Covid baby who started school this fall.

 

[sarahjane08]

@kimber77 Covid is the least of your problems lol. I get deathly sick and take Paxlovid. My husband takes care of them, then he usually gets it, then I take care of them. They don't usually get super sick. When I say Covid is the least of your worries, I mean that kids touch EVERYTHING... They're constantly sick like 6-10 colds a year. That's almost every 2 weeks lol. We're just getting over Norovirus, that was fun. Both kids vomiting and pooing at the same time, all while both parents were sick lol. I would have traded it for Covid. If you want kids, don't let something like this stop you.

 

[tbvsthienloc2020]

@kimber77 My son is 1.5 and we all had Covid when he was 6mo. I mean covid sucks but being sick in general while also caring for a sick child is something I didn’t really consider until it happened. I was daydreaming about having a sick day to myself where I only cared for me.

The Covid and quarantining is hard too because childcare becomes an issue even if baby isn’t sick—our parents care for our son so we didn’t feel okay with them watching him when my husband tested positive even though it was days before my son and I did. I think the rules are getting more lax on that though. My husband went back after five days regardless of a negative test and masked for another five.

I hope you all feel better soon! From what I hear from my friends with kids in daycare it’s just sickness after sickness for a few years. You just kind of survive somehow!

 

[mbai22]

@kimber77 Terrible. I was pregnant and had a 3 year old while working from home.

 

[jayce9936]

@kimber77 I had COVID once. It was at some point in 2022, and it was nothing major. I had a harder time after the 2nd dose of the vaccine than I did being actually sick.

As far as caring for your kids goes, do your best. If you're dead tired and achy, then you're dead tired and achy. Maybe cooking isn't going to happen. Maybe laundry can wait another couple of days. Also, screen time isn't the end of the world.

 

[zackjohnson922]

@kimber77 We all got it once, in 2022. My kids were 3 years old and 10 months old. We all had it at the same time, and it was over within the week, just like any other sickness that passes through the house.

 

[chriscomplex]

@kimber77 If both parents are sick, you don’t quarantine yourself away from the kids. You put on a mask and take care of the kids as best as you can.

 

[dean91]

@kimber77 Covid is just one of the many illnesses you will have to navigate with kids.

Flu? Same thing. A cold? Same thing. You will all catch them one after the other. If you’re lucky, both parents won’t be sick at the same time so one of you can take care of the kid while the other rests. If you’re all sick at the same time, you’ll decide all your screen time rules didn’t need to be so strict.

Edit to add: me and my husband are both vaccinated against Covid, our son is not because our country hasn’t approved it for children under age 5. I have had Covid, did not isolate, and neither my husband or son caught it. They both had PCR tests at the same time as me both when I first tested and then again 7 days later.

 

[mommy2littles]

@kimber77 They say small children often show hardly any symptoms. With us it was the other way around. I only found out bc of a routine test I had covid and around the same time, my then 1yo started showing symptoms and it got worse RAPIDLY. I can tell you that the image of my baby reaching out for his favorite toy but not being able crawl towards it will be forever burnt into my brain. I feel childhood these days is walking the fine line between trying to protect our kids while also still giving them a life worth living for (aka being able to meet loved ones, go outside etc).

 

[heroebal]

@kimber77 Honestly the first big hurdle with having kids is sleep deprivation then after that it’s all the illnesses. I’ve got two school aged kids and for the past 6 weeks our household has been sick. Not everyone at once but at least two people in our house seem to always be sick. It’s been pretty relentless and this year the colds/flus/covid really seems to stick around. I often say I don’t understand how two working parents manage and I really do mean that. Im mostly a stay at home mom so thankfully we can adapt pretty easily to a kid or two suddenly needing to stay home.

If you were to list pros and cons of having kids, I honestly think there is always going to be more cons. That sounds harsh especially coming from a mom. The biggest pro is just how much you love them and that they truly become your whole soul. That’s something you can’t quantify, write out or explain.

 

[neoscholasticism]

@kimber77 We've only had Covid like once. But there's also the Flu, and RSV, and the stomach bug, and a thousand other viruses that pass through the whole family. It's really bad for few years once they start school or daycare or whatever group activity they go to each day... then once they've gotten everything it tends to settle down to 1-3 times per year...

In summary, it SUCKS when they first start school/daycare... then gradually improves as they age.

 

[mr12345]

@kimber77 are you asking about covid specifically or are you asking about kids and sickness?

Because the covid thing was really hard during the pandemic, but mostly we are jus tdealing with the repurcussions of that now. Covid has mostly turned into one of the many other sicknesses that are going around.

Kids and sickness are just par for the course. So if you are looking as "what you're getting into" and you're concerned about sickness, I suggest you read up a little bit on how that goes. Warning: the long and short of it is that kids get sick a lot, they bring it home to parents and parents get it, and then you have to parent and work while being sick.

 

[heatherthehumble]

@kimber77 Had baby in 2020, caught COVID year later with five people in the house. Easy to deal with because baby and I had no symptoms. Older daughter mild cough. Other two on house stuck with fevers. I spent time feeding the sick, playing with baby, ranking up in apex legends.