Flu Ettiquette

It’s 3 in the morning, and I’m wide awake from stripping beds, starting laundry, wiping vomit from walls and out of carpet (because we just cannot have nice things) and combing regurgitated dinner out of little girl hair in the shower.

THERE IS BARF EVERYWHERE.

As Bestie Jen said, it’s like an Old Testament plague up in here– just a few days late for Passover.

Friends, Dear Ones, hear me: I don’t care if it’s Easter or Christmas or Yom Kippur– if your kids are sick DO NOT bring them to church.

Furthermore, if ONE of your kids is home sick, do not bring your OTHER kids to church. They have it. Symptoms aside, they are carrying it. Do the rest of us a solid and sit this week out, mkay?

Long live podcast sermons, forever and ever, amen.

Same goes for school, obvi… and, well, anywhere. If you HAVE to get out, consider a friendly visit to the doctor.

I’ll be frank, I religiously pre-medicate my kids with Airborne before church and Awanas, each week, because this is an ongoing issue in our congregation. We homeschool, for Pete’s sake!

We wash our hands todos los dias. We eat our veggies and take our vitamins. I maniacally wipe down every shopping cart basket (if a store doesn’t provide them– looking at you, Costco– make your own on the fly with a baby wipe and hand sanitizer) that I plop my sweet toddler into.

Tomorrow will be another day off of school, another day of missed activities; of laundry, hot baths, Netflix, and naps.

When our kids are sick, I don’t prescribe the traditional BRAT [bananas, rice, applesauce & toast] diet, I push water and popsicles (either all fruit, organic store bought variety, or homemade from juice) in droves, encourage consumption of oranges, and always, always make homemade chicken noodle soup.

Chicken noodle soup is my go-to New Mommy Meal, since it’s wholesome and mild, a simple crowd favorite. This was dinner last night.

I plop organic chicken breasts into a big vat of water with heaps of fresh garlic, celery, and onion, and let it bubble all day. It fills the house with a comforting aroma, and might just be the one task I bring to completion in 24 hours– save for mountains of laundry and repeated bleaching of bathrooms. I’m generous with the thyme and include salt, pepper, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, fresh ginger, and of course organic carrots and pasta or rice.

One could get fancy and make their own scratch noodles, like ambitious Bestie Christy, but Stomach Flu Time is NOT the time. My recipe is effortless (you don’t even have to thaw the chicken!) and that is the best part about it. If there is any left over, freeze it in a container for when you inevitably succumb to the nasty germy germs, as well.

In a nutshell: My kids are healthy, they will get better– praise be to God. But what of the immune-compromised in any given church body? Infants, pregnant women, elderly, those fighting cancer… the simple stomach flu can be life-threatening. Be considerate of others and do your best NOT to share.