I get the flu vaccine every year. So does everyone in my family. Once we even took a family trip to the drive-through clinic. My son, Alex, who was 5 years old at the time, climbed from the very back seat of our car to the front seat and sat on his sister’s lap. And then we went to breakfast! My kids’ attendance at school improved after we all started getting vaccinated. Before, when I got the flu, I’d get it really bad: aches, fever, several days in bed, the whole 9 yards. After I started getting the flu vaccine, if I did get the flu, it went away quickly and was just a couple of coughs and sneezes. One year, I missed the vaccine, and I got sick. That’s when I knew I had to get it every year. My husband, who has diabetes, saw how much it helped me. Now he gets it every year also. As soon as the availability is announced every September, we decide together about which day we’re going, what time and what restaurant to eat at after – just as we do with consensus decision-making. I want my kids to have a say and be able to speak up and share concerns without fear of retaliation ­– just like I do at work. I am teaching them that they have a right to be heard. They have a right to speak up in the family and in the world.