For the first time in a number of years, I found myself the caretaker for a sick family member this weekend and early this week. Our children are 16 and 19, so they’ve been out of the catch-every-cold years for almost a decade, and for the most part they have been independent even when sick for the preteen and teen years (as in “give me my box of kleenex, tea, popsicles, and a book or screen, and I’ll keep my complaints to myself”). But I spent a number of hours in the last week wiping down a forehead, encouraging sips of clear fluids, and the like… and then when it looks like the influenza symptoms weren’t leaving quickly, drove to the ER where my wife and I discovered it wasn’t influenza but pneumonia. (Don’t worry: even in Florida, hospitals have antibiotics.)<\/p>\n
Monday morning I felt viscerally frustrated because it was the third Monday in a row I was not in the office, and there are always a number of tasks that really require being on campus to perform. (September 29 = in the northeast a day late thanks to Irene; last Monday = Labor Day). Almost everything I have to do as a department chair officially can be done long-distance: I can log into the virtual private network of USF and then approve leave, grant proposals, research protocols, and the like. And much can be done by email. But there are whole categories of tasks that require talking with people face-to-face or access to paper records, and I was looking forward to a jump start on a week.<\/p>\n
But I cannot complain: this has been short-term if intense. And this reminded me of colleagues and friends who have had far more onerous dependent-care responsibilities, from tenure-track colleagues with children who need more intensive care than typical to colleagues in all sorts of situations whose work lives and research have taken a back seat when partners or parents have been in poor health.<\/p>\n
USF has paid parental leave, which will benefit both the institution and its employees.\u00a0But paid parental leave and FMLA don’t address the need for faculty to maintain momentum in their jobs in a variety of ways. In\u00a0How to Write a Lot<\/a>, which is great if you’re a psychology faculty member and pretty good for everyone else, Paul Silvia is absolutely correct that consistent time devoted to writing is critical for faculty… and consistency is what dependent care wipes out so easily. There is always a medical\/behavioral\/academic crisis around the corner, or a care\/education-coordination meeting, or bills, or other family members to attend to who have been neglected, or coping with one’s own emotions or just fatigue from having been worn down through a tough day. You can be a rock, but water erodes rocks a bit at a time. And many of my friends and colleagues with more intensive\/long-term dependent-care responsibilities are rocks on which their families can depend.<\/p>\n