While no one enjoys being sick, it is especially important that children remain healthy because of the risks that go along with them falling ill. Try following these tips to help keep your child in good health.
Teach Good Handwashing Habits
While the CDC recommends that people wash their hands for 15 to 20 seconds to successfully kill germs, only roughly 5 percent of people wash their hands for that amount of time.
That is why it’s important to teach your child not just to wash their hands, but how to do so efficiently and frequently. This can help prevent your child from contracting infections from school sports, daycare, or any other activity where there are other children that are in frequent contact with items that your child will touch.
Keeping Your Child up to Date with Vaccinations
Making sure that your child’s vaccines are up to date is an important part in keeping your child healthy. While vaccinations will not prevent your child from every form of sickness, it is still an extra defence against falling ill.
It is also important to keep in mind that some vaccinations take time to work, such as the flu shot which takes about two weeks. If your child gets sick before the vaccination has had the time to kick in, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the shot doesn’t work or isn’t worth getting.
Show Your Child how to Cover Coughs and Sneezes
When your child does have a cold or the flu, showing them how to prevent the spread of their germs is important. While this won’t stop you child from getting sick, it will teach them good habits that can help keep other children, and adults, healthy.
Pay Attention to How Often a Surface is Cleaned
Flu viruses are able to survive on a hard surface for as long as 48 hours. This is why it’s so important that surfaces are cleaned often to prevent the spread of infection.
It’s important to remember that tables and countertops are not the only surfaces that need frequent cleaning. School sports infections, such as MRSA, can be spread through floor surfaces or gym mats.
Roughly two percent of the population carries MRSA, which is a methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. This means that MRSA is a staph bacteria that is resistant to a number of antibiotics.
According to KidsHealth MRSA prevention can be handled in a number of ways, including frequent hand washing, covering cuts with bandages and keeping those wounds clean, avoiding the sharing of items such as towels, uniforms, or other items that have contact with bare skin, and only sharing sports equipment that has a cover or barrier.
By taking these precautions to help prevent skin infections from spreading to your child, you are also helping in eliminate the chances of your child spreading MRSA on to someone else.
There is no way to completely guarantee that your child will never get sick, but by using these tips to prevent infections and other sicknesses from spreading, you are able to keep your child as healthy as you can.
