Staying home when you are sick

I was trying to concentrate at work, when I heard it. A phlegmy cough. Then a pause. Then that cough again. Someone in my office was sick.

I admit to being guilty of this myself - going to work while sick. I have rationalized this because I think "it's just a cold," that I can "work through it" or that I have an important meeting I can't cancel on, but the truth is that I shouldn't be working while I am sick.

Fortunately, I am able to work from home when I am ill, so at least my coworkers don't have to hear my cough, but the point of this is that I shouldn't be working at all.

I should be resting, especially because I am a parent.

As parents, we rarely have time to ourselves when we are healthy, never mind when we are sick. Parents are on-call for family life responsibilities at all hours of the day and night. Shouldn't we want to be at our best for that? Shouldn't it be a priority to take the day off to get better and back in the Mommy game faster? (I don't even want to think about those stay-at-home parents or homeschooling parents right now who have zero days off.)

Working while sick is a huge problem in the U.S., and I need to re-train my brain to let myself heal and not keep plugging away while my nose is plugged up.

I hope I'm up to the challenge.

Do you still go to work when you are sick? Tell me in the comments.