There are a number of differences between adults and children. Adults tend to ask less questions and make smaller messes with their meals (most of the time). Where grown-ups enjoy the idea of a good nap kids detest it, which can be rather infuriating to a sleep deprived parent. Adults like to go to the bathroom in peace, by themselves, whereas most children view going to the bathroom as a community activity.
Another big difference is how children and adults bounce back from sickness.
This year after Christmas the Sharp Six loaded up for a family trip to San Antonio. After spending five nights in the Alamo city we got home the afternoon of New Years Eve. The next day, January 1st, the first member of the family got a fever. Over the course of the next week five out of six members of our family came down with the flu. The only family member to avoid this nasty illness was the nineteen-month-old Jedi who I have to believe the flu found a little too crazy to infect.
The seven-year-old Zoologist, the five-year-old Ballerina, and the three-year-old Fashionista all suffered through bouts of fever, chills, and lethargy. No doubt the children didn’t feel well, but what amazed their mother and me was how once their fever left it was like everything was just back to normal. They could run a fever of 102 and lay motionless on the couch for hours watching television, but once their fever broke they jumped up and resumed playing as if nothing had ever happened. Sometimes the fevers came and went and so they played like mad, then laid on the couch, then resumed playing, before they once again crashed on the couch. This went on for two or three days and then they were magically better and ready to resume normal activities.
This was not even close to the experience of the adults in our house. First, the Wonder Woman and I were absolutely miserable from the moment we first felt any symptoms. Second, ten days later I still think there is a small possibility that I am dying. And no, this is not because I am a man who can’t handle being sick. I am a man, and I freely admit that women handle being sick better than men, but this flu bug was no joke, unless you are a small child, in which case it was apparently just a minor inconvenience and an excuse to watch TV.
