Sundays   

It’s not like anyone treats Motzaei Shabbos like a school night, so pray tell, WHY do I need to be the one dragging my seventh grader into the minyan carpool at 7:15? If our minhag as a klal is to have pizza after midnight on Motzaei Shabbos, our minhag should also be to sleep in on Sundays. We need to either be sleeping late in the mornings or going to sleep on time. And nothing in between!

Who says the problem is the Sundays? The problem is the pizza! Serve them something boring, like leftover cholent with a side of chess for beginners, and watch your children prefer to go to sleep early before your very eyes. But you’ll probably still have to drag them out of bed to make the minyan carpool.

Let me give you an example of what I’m dealing with on Sundays. My 14-year-old made “study” plans with her BFF across town and asked for (demanded) a ride at 11, while my middle one has birthday party from 11:30 to 1:00 (which I only remembered I hadn’t picked up a gift for at 10:30). My youngest two are in a Sunday program and need to be picked up by 12, and the repairman for the dishwasher told me to be home between 10 and 4. How does anyone survive this?

There’s a really easy trick you have to learn; master it once and enjoy a better life forever:

Care. Less. If you have to say no to the morning schmooze (oops, we meant study date) and only have an unwrapped gift for the party pickup, and maybe forget one kid somewhere for an extended period of time, so be it. Consider Sundays like a mishloach manos scavenger hunt on Purim; when you look at the facts on paper it will feel impossible to accomplish, but by the end of the day you made everything work. And also, your kids will be hyped on sugar, and you will be hyped on lack of sleep. That’s life, kiddo!

My husband is the only local pediatric dentist who works Sundays, which leaves him the hero of our hometown… for everyone except me. Hellooo, forgot about me? Sunday is my one day off a week, so I also have to figure out when to grocery shop and cross off every errand on my ever-growing list. Plus, I would really like to actually make the 8:30 a.m. spin class that I keep committing to and flaking out of if that’s not too much to ask!

Simple. Sign your kids up for Sunday Funday… hire a babysitter… set them up with a cordless and Hatzolah’s number in case of emergency — do whatever it takes to get out of the house. But let’s get real. You don’t need to spend your whole day on errands; jog to get your returns done and order groceries online while you’re waiting at crosswalks. Multitasking is underrated!