6 Ways Technology Can Help When Your Kid Is Sick

It’s inevitable: Just when you think your children are safely ensconced in school and you’re heading into that super-important work meeting that took days to set up, you get the call: One of those kids is suddenly sick and needs a ride home from school RIGHT NOW. Just like that, your day is no longer about climbing the corporate ladder, it’s about fevers and chicken soup.

I feel your pain. (And, yes, your poor sick progeny’s pain, too.) You know what you could use? Some bargains to help take the sting out of a lousy situation. So I’ve rounded up some deals that’ll help you both get through this.

Kinsa Smart Thermometer

Bring fever-control into the information age, with this cool app-enabled thermometer. Just plug the thermometer into the headphone jack on your smart phone and take the temperature with the other end. The Kinsa app measures and then remembers, so you can track the progress of a fever and save records automatically on your phone. The app also offers bits of advice for dealing with the illness. Easy, accurate, and way more helpful than the old way. It’s regularly $30, but I got you $10 off: Just use this link and enter the code YAHOO10. This deal is good till September 18.

Shuddle

It always happens at very busiest moment in a workday: The school nurse calls to say that your little one is running a fever and needs a ride home as soon as possible. Not only are you headed into that meeting, but the commute back to the school is not trivial. Shuddle is the answer: Getting kids to and fro is all it does. Download the app, enter some payment information, make a couple of taps on your phone, and your child’s ride will be on the way. Shuddle is better than a regular cab or Uber for this kind of service, because Shuddle won’t let just anyone be a driver. The company requires candidates to have passed its own background screening process, to be safe drivers, and to be good with kids. Want to check it out? I got you a free ride (up to $20; one per customer) so you can: Use the code YAHOO10 through the end of the year.

Urbansitter

Sometimes it just isn’t possible to drop everything and rush to the aid of a child who’s suddenly home from school. What you need is an instant sitter. In the past, that might have meant an hour on the phone asking friends for recommendations, then tracking down an available sitter at the last minute. Urbansitter does away with that hassle. It finds sitters who are popular with the people in your social network, does background checks on them, and delivers these pre-screened people right to your phone. All you have to do is book and pay. (You can even pay right through the app.) I wrangled you $50 in credit, good for a free month of membership and $35 in babysitting credits. (New customers only.) Use this link. This deal is good through November.

Audible

Cuddling up and reading to a sick child is the best way — I think — to make everyone feel better. But if you have to take a conference call, you don’t have to give in and let the kids just watch cartoons. Instead, connect your phone or tablet to a speaker, tuck your tot in with some stuffed animals, and let one of Audible’s fantastic narrators do the reading-out-loud for you. When your conference call is over, you can settle in and listen, too. Right now all of James Patterson’s children’s books are on sale at Audible at this link.

ZipDrug

Does that illness require medication? There is something wrong with a world that thinks bringing a sick child to the drug store to pick up a prescription is good for anyone. That child should be in bed, and you should be home with her. Thus: Zipdrug. It delivers prescriptions right to your door the same day the pharmacy gets them ready. You download the app and set it all up from your phone. The first delivery fee is always free.

iPad Mini

There’s nothing like a sick, bored child to make you suddenly realize that having another tablet isn’t an extravagance: It’s a necessary parenting tool that makes it possible for kids (sick, traveling, or otherwise) to listen to audio books or watch cartoons and for you to take temperatures and use apps to do things like arrange for rides, sitters, and prescriptions. The Apple iPad mini 16GB Wi-Fi  is on sale at Walmart right now for $199 (it’s normally $249.)