Jackie de Crinis
Executive Vice President
Original Scripted Programming
USA Network
Kids: Madison, 14; Morgan, 11; Alexa, 4
A: When my caregiver is ill and I have a sick child at home, it’s a tricky situation. My first step: I furiously get to converting in-person meetings to conference calls or delaying them for a day. On occasion, if I need to make an important lunch meeting, I work from home in the morning and late afternoon and have my husband come home to cover midday. When children are under the weather, a lot of times they just want their mommy. But when Mommy needs to make phone calls and get on the computer, I reluctantly admit that television is the great substitute.

The guilt of being a working mother with a sick child was much greater when I was a new mom and my schedule was even more demanding. I used to have a longer commute, which made it impossible to come home in the middle of the day, and a longer schedule that included nights. In addition, I was the only working woman with children in my office. But over time and through much experience, it has become a little easier to juggle. Now all three of my children can communicate by phone. The guesswork of what’s hurting (and the subsequent guilt about that) is greatly diminished when they can articulate their ailments.

It has also helped that we’ve had the same pediatrician for almost 14 years. If one of my kids starts showing symptoms in the evening, I know to set my alarm clock extra early. This allows me to get the other two kids to school on time and still make our pediatrician’s early morning drop-in emergency hours. The trick is to get there first! Once we have a diagnosis, I race to the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions, get my child home and comfortable and translate the instructions into Spanish for our caregiver. Our caregivers over the years have always been Latin American, so I learned all the important health-related words first—fiebre (fever), tos (cough) and dolor de cabeza (headache).

Patricia Murray
SVP, Director, Human Resources
Intel Corporation
Kids: Kaitlyn, 14; Conor, 12
A: With my husband out of town most weeks, I run through the calendar with my trusted neighbor just in case one of us has to fill in for the other.


1  2