Surviving Sick Season: A two-part series for the default parent

About this group

Cold and flu season doesn't just fill the calendar with pediatrician visits - it quietly stacks the mental load. You're not just caring for a sick kid; you're tracking symptoms, rescheduling your own work, anticipating who's next to catch it, and holding the emotional weight of everyone else's stress while yours goes unspoken. This two-session group blends education and peer support to help you name what's happening in your nervous system during high-demand stretches, and build real, doable strategies for sharing the load, so sick season doesn't have to mean disappearing into caretaker mode. Session 1 — Understanding the (Viral and Mental) Load -A framework for identifying the invisible labor of sick season (anticipatory planning, symptom-tracking, logistics-juggling) separate from the hands-on caregiving -Language for naming cortisol carryover and window-of-tolerance shifts in real time, so you catch overwhelm before it becomes a blowup -A "mental load inventory" worksheet to map what you're currently carrying solo Session 2 — Redistributing and Recovering -A concrete script for handing off tasks to a partner or co-parent - including how to ask without over-explaining or managing their response -Three micro-recovery practices (under 5 minutes) for regulating your nervous system between caregiving demands -A simple household "sick season plan" template to pre-decide roles before the next round hits, so decisions aren't made mid-crisis Over two sessions, you'll learn to recognize the hidden work of sick season, get language and tools for regulating your own stress in the moment, and leave with concrete scripts and a plan for redistributing the load - so you're not carrying it all solo the next time illness hits your house.