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Rain Dog stayed home sick yesterday.

It was a pleasant surprise to wake up and find him still here, even if the day proceeded as usual: get the kids up and dressed, take Hamlet to preschool, take kids shopping. When Rain Dog joined us for lunch, that made another pleasant surprise.

Less pleasant was when 3 p.m. rolled around. That's the time I look at the clock and think to myself that I only have to entertain the boys for another hour or two, before Rain Dog comes home and can take over for me. Not so yesterday. At 3 p.m., he was still asleep. However, he did come down at 4, and even felt well enough to watch the kids so I could work a little and cook dinner.

One of the greatest inequities between work-out-of-home parents and those who stay home with the kids is the sick time. The out-of-home parent can call in sick and stay home. Rarely is it possible for that parent to stay home while the at-home parent sleeps--especially when they're passing the illness back and forth.

Most of the time, I make do with caretaking while I'm sick and unable to take cold and flu medicine. I overuse TV; if I'm really incapacitated, as I was with a stomach virus once when Hamlet wasn't quite 2, I've found that kids are more patient than we give them credit for. In fact, they have quite a capacity to nurture: Hamlet tried to feed me when, even at 18 months, he noticed I'd eaten nothing all day.

Sure, it would be nice if employers would take pity on stay-at-home parents by allowing our spouses to stay home with our sick selves. But then we might not get to experience the very best our children have to offer: their pure selflessness.