Vapor billows gently from the humidifier, placed strategically out of reach of the one year old terrorizing the living room, and the smell of Vicks wafts from my four year old's chest. Ah...It is beginning to look and smell a lot like cold and flu season around our house. There is no doubt that the blissful time of year where someone's nose is always needing wiped is upon me. Both the boys are sick with coughs and noses that are somehow stuffy and runny at the same time.
If 10 years of teaching elementary and middle school has taught me anything, it is that germs are the one thing that children share freely. For the most part, it isn't a big deal. Getting an occasional virus helps build their little immune systems. We have vaccines to ward off or minimize most of the big scary viruses. Thank you, science! However, as any parent that has dealt with a whiny snotty child sneezing directly into their ocular cavity will tell you, their germ sharing often goes beyond their little school friends. So what can we do to minimize the passing of germs to one another? Well, the CDC and our mothers have been telling us for years that the best thing we can do is wash our hands thoroughly and frequently, cover our mouths and noses when we sneeze and cough, and stay away from each other when we know we are sick. It is pretty basic stuff for adults, even though the pandemic has shown that some adults still don't comprehend it. Children are new here and need to be taught these things though. The best way I have found to teach kids these skills is a combo of modeling, reading books, and watching videos. Modeling is the easy part, it just involves consistently washing your own hands while reinforcing why it is important. For example, "Hey, buddy, we just came in from playing outside, time to get all those germies off our hands. Grab your stool and we can wash our hands together, but don't you dare steal my soap." The "don't steal my soap" is a game I play with my 4 year old to get him to wash his hands longer. I put soap on my hands and he "steals" it by grabbing some for himself. Then I act all indignant and try to steal it back, all the while rubbing it on his hands. He thinks it is hilarious and doesn't fight me with the typical, "I can do it myself," battle cry of independence when it is a game. As for the books and videos, I have put together a handy dandy list of resources below for you to use with your kids. If you have any to add, please let me know. The key to developing any healthy habit is repetition so read and watch your kid's favorites frequently and praise them each time they make the great choices to cover their mouth or remember to wash their hands. Will any of this completely stop your kids from sharing germs with you and each other? Absolutely, not. I share this in the hopes that it makes teaching our kids lifelong healthy habits easier and, fingers crossed, reduces the number of times you have to break out the vapor rub this Winter.
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