In the United States, children have an average of 6-10 colds every year.
As a matter of fact, these colds contribute to more days of missed school than any other type of illness.
As parents, you know that colds can easily spread from one child to another rather quickly.
So what is a parent to do? Here are some of the best way to prevent your child from getting sick at school.
Table of Contents
Best Ways To Prevent Your Child From Getting Sick At School
Teach them how and when to wash their hands
One of the ways that kids get colds is by having germs on their hand from the cold virus and then rubbing their eyes or nose.
Also, kids don’t wash their hands nearly enough as they should, especially in school. Your child should know when and how to wash their hands the correct way.
They should know to wash their hands after using the restroom, before eating, after eating and before touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
They should also know to wash their hands with soap and warm water, to scrub their hands all over for about 15-20 seconds.
Give them hand sanitizer to carry in their backpack
While hand washing is the best way to protect against germs, there may be times when that isn’t possible, like field trips.
In this case, it is important that they have hand sanitizer with them. Ensure that they are aware that they need to rub the hand sanitizer on their hands and fingers for about 25-30 seconds.
Be sure that you choose a hand sanitizer that has a minimum of 60% alcohol in order to be effective.
Teach them how to not share food and drinks
While we do teach our kids to share with others, food and drinks is not one of the things they should be sharing with anyone.
If they are sick and share their juice box with their friend, they could very well get their friend sick as well.
Readers that liked this article also read How to Create Healthy Habits for Kids, Keep Learning on Sick Days and How I Connected with my Families Health.
As a paediatrician, I’m so glad you put hand washing first. Great advice! Learning how to blow their noses and dispose of tissues is another good tip. (My boys are still working on it although their younger sister can manage fine!)
Pinned 🙂
Dispose of tissues – so simple that I forgot how important that tip is. Thanks for the reminder :).
Great tips. Sadly, I know some parents who could benefit from the same advice.