When a mom gets sick, she has roughly 30 seconds to rest up before she is back on regular Mom duty 

The very minute one unknown person casually turned to his friend and remarked, “I hear the flu is going around,” my kids’ immune systems rolled over and gave in without much of a fight.

The first one to get a fever was promptly whisked off to the doctor, who confirmed that he had the flu.

I wish I could say that his brothers felt even the slightest bit of sympathy for their fallen comrade, but in the interest of truth, I am forced to admit that their initial reaction was one of indignant outrage.

“Why does he get to stay home from cheder, and I have to go? That’s not fair!”

“He’s staying home again? If he gets to stay home for three days, then I’m going to stay home for four days when I get the flu!”

It was touching, really.

Then they switched tactics:

“I should really stay here to play with him, because he’ll be so bored with no one else home.”

“Maybe it’s a good idea for me to stay here with him so that he’s not jealous when all the brothers leave to cheder without him.”

Very creative. And while it was thoughtful of my boys to be so considerate, not to worry, they all had their turn to stay home with the Flu of ’22.