All moms want to be good moms.

Why else would we try to teach hardheaded boys manners, cram at least one vegetable a night into a two-year-old's open crying mouth and read Madeline 1,479 times? We want to be known as good moms.

We want to be percevied as always putting the kids first - all about looking out for their best interest.

So you know it's got to be bad when I said to a friend recently that I'd rather my kids be sick than my husband.

I mean - THAT'S A TERRIBLE THING TO SAY - right? It's basically saying I'd choose for my kids to catch something versus my husband. Like I'm putting him first, right?

It's not that.

The pure-straight-up annoyingness of my husband getting a cold - much less being REALLY sick - has superceded my maternal instincts.

You know how you can pick your kid up after an afternoon of playing and suddenly notice how warm she is? She doesn't act sick yet, but clearly has a fever. She's carrying on, like a good solider.

Yeah, that doesn't happen with my husband.

He'll start the sickness foreplay days in advance of the REAL symptoms settling in.

The hacking: [COUGH, HACK, HACK] "I've got a cold coming on....."

The fatigue: "This cold is just killing me."

The sickenss advertising campaign: "Do you feel bad? I am feeling SO BAD. God, I hate getting sick!"[HACK, HACK, COUGH, PITIFUL STUMBLING TO GET A KLEENEX]

I mean, WHO stays home from work when you have a cold?! Ken White, that's who.

And he wants it old-school when he's sick. I'm talking cold cloths, chicken noodle soup, in bed all-day, constant temperature taking, drinks with straws and humidifiers.

The last time he was sick Thomas and I actually were snickering at all the moaning. It was hilarious.

He just randomly moans and cries out in pain. From his stuffy nose.

I just don't know how to rationally deal with such irrational behavior, when it's coming from a 40 year-old adult.

My mother-in-law says the same thing about my father-in-law, so maybe it's an inherited thing.

What about you? Is your significant other a big baby when it comes to being sick?