A card from Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
Medical & Healthy Living (Kids)
From stocking up on standard pain relievers and regular checkups at the pediatrician to seeing specialists as needed, your kids’ medical care requires tremendous research, coordination, and time. Healthy living may also include buying vitamins and healthy snacks (in collaboration with the “Groceries” cardholder) and inspiring an active lifestyle with family exercise or other heart-pumping activities. This cardholder also takes the lead, stocking up on items like hand sanitizer, sunscreen, and bug spray. Exception: You’re off the hook from dealing with “health insurance” unless that’s your card, too.
Holding this card means owning all three
Conception
The kids need to be healthy
Planning
- Researching, interviewing and selecting pediatrician
- Scheduling well checks, vaccine appointments, & annual physicals
- Ensuring that child has up-to-date vaccines
- Keeping track of questions to ask doctor between well visits
- Scheduling child’s sick visits
- Determining if specialists are necessary (e.g., eye doctor, GI etc.)
- Prevention: researching vitamins & sunscreen (for “Morning Routine” cardholder)
- Encouraging active lifestyle for all family members, especially exercise
- Ensuring that “Groceries” cardholder is including plenty of healthy food options for adults and children
Execution
- Purchasing and stocking standard pain reliever/allergy medicines for children (and adults whenever possible)
- Keeping specialty medicine up to date, including specialty items like EpiPen and asthma medications/nebulizers
- Attending and taking notes during well checks, vaccine appointments, and annual physicals
- Attending child’s sick visits
- Filling prescriptions, checking medicine side effects and administering medicine
- Manage at-home medical issues such as constipation, sleeping issues, allergies, other GI, asthma, ENT, etc.
- Purchasing vitamins and sunscreen
- Monitoring family members’ consumption of caffeine, alcohol, fried foods, smoking habits, fatty foods
- Encouraging calming behaviors/quiet times
Suggested Minimum Standard of Care
Are you on top of your kids' health concerns, and do they go to their physicals on time?
A starting point. You and your partner agree the real standard together, and the holder meets it without reminders.
Holding it well
- It’s a Daily Grind: relentless and time-bound. Make sure each of you holds a fair share of these, ideally one from each suit.
- The holder owns all of it: noticing, planning and doing. No “just tell me what to do.”
- Agree the Minimum Standard of Care together, then let the holder meet it their way.
- Not working? Bring it to the weekly check-in and re-deal it. Don’t take it back mid-week.
Put this card on your table
Deal it, agree its standard, and see who holds what. Free.