Successfully tending to her kids when they’re sick is a feat that makes Hilary Duff feel like a million bucks.
The singer and Younger actress recently chatted with PureWow about raising daughter Banks Violet, 15 months, and son Luca Cruz, 8 next month, joking that she and husband Matthew Koma constantly have to “defend ourselves against” them, “because they’re like Petri dishes.”
And it’s a daily battle to encourage her little ones not to pass germs back and forth to each other, which means double the work for Mom.
“When Luca’s going to school and coming home, I’m trying to teach him to not get all up in his sister’s face right away,” Duff said. “It’s sad because he wants to just have his hands all over her and he’s obsessed with her, which is so great. But I’m like, ‘Just give her some space.’ “
“If my kid is sick, they’re not going to class,” she continued. “Yes, if Luca is sick, it’s hard for him to miss school, but I really believe that rest is so important. I’m like, ‘Okay, you’re going to nap and take it easy.’ But the word ‘nap’ is like a four-letter word to a 7-year-old.”
The Lizzie McGuire alum told the outlet that some of her, Banks and Luca’s favorite activities to do together on sick dys are baking and watching movies — when the kids aren’t resting, of course.
“Wrestling a little one to wipe her nose all day is a lot … but those days are your badges of honor and make you feel like Super Woman when you’re finished,” she told PureWow.
Elsewhere in the interview, Duff revealed that she initially felt “guilt” for having Banks, considering Luca had been an only child for about six years when she found out she was pregnant.
“It was just he and I for so long that he was like, ‘Why? Why, Mom? Why would you do this? I really just love the way it is,’ ” recalled the mother of two. “And it wasn’t bratty, it was just so sad.”
After learning she was expecting, the “Come Clean” singer remembered asking herself, ” ‘How do I reverse this?! It’s too late now.’ It’s such big feelings. When you’re pregnant, everything just feels more magnified.”
Now, “It’s the best,” Duff said of the dynamic between the two siblings. “It’s a chemical reaction between siblings sometimes where he knows he has to protect her.”
