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How to protect your kids from beginning-of-the-year bugs

How to protect your kids from beginning-of-the-year bugs

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Fall is a time to get back into your school routine, but sometimes sickness can throw a wrench in things. Kids go back to school and become exposed to countless infections and sicknesses, whether they are sick or not. How can you protect your school-aged children (and the rest of the family) from these illnesses?

Other than not going to school, children can protect themselves from illness in several simple ways, but they need your help to be aware and to remember to implement them. Great Clips offers parents some good places to start:

Teach good hygiene

The best way to start in protecting your children from illness is teaching proper hygiene at home. Hand washing is a must but make sure your children know when hand-washing is absolutely necessary. Examples include:

  • Before and after eating a meal
  • After recess
  • After using the bathroom
  • Upon getting home from school
Instill in your children a desire to be thorough with hand washing. If you encourage them to wash their hands for the duration of the ABCs or the “Happy Birthday” song, this will help them remember to work up a lather all over their hands. Remind them about proper drying technique, too. Teach them to turn off the faucet with a paper towel and to open the door with one as well before throwing the towel away. It’s also not a bad idea to sanitize their school equipment from time to time.

Watch for contagious symptoms

It’s true that every school-aged child gets sick at one time or another, but it’s important to be aware of serious symptoms. Pay attention to your child and his or her peers to know if there is a risk of contagion before it’s too late. Here are some symptoms that should tip you off in keeping your child at home:

  • Bloody stool or frequent diarrhea
  • Vomiting more than once during a 24-hour period
  • Mouth sores and drooling
  • Skin rashes, sores and irritations
  • Fever and sluggishness
  • Coughing and difficulty breathing
  • Itching the scalp, body and irritability
Obviously, if you already know the cause of your child’s symptoms isn't contagious, attending school is an option. Just make sure you know either way before exposing other children to illness.

Shutterstock
Shutterstock

Maintain a healthy lifestyle

Not all illnesses are contagious, but a school is a public place full of millions of microbes. In addition to good and frequent hand-washing, help your children get regular exercise. Over the course of a year, people may reduce cold and flu episodes by 25-50 percent by simply getting regular exercise, according to one study.

Of course, your body won’t have the nutrients it needs to maintain a healthy immune system if you’re not eating a healthy diet, too. Lastly, help your children get plenty of sleep. Most babies need 14 hours, while preschoolers still require 11-13. School-aged children should be getting about 10 hours of sleep each night.

Use available resources

Immunizations are one of the greatest preventative measures you can use to protect your children from curable illness. Each age group should have regular shots to keep its immunizations updated. This isn’t all you can do, either. For instance, lice are a huge concern for school-aged children, so use products that eradicate and prevent the spread of head lice to save time and headache. Not everything that spreads at school is an illness so keep your eyes open for all types of bugs.

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