Weather Up & Down? How To Prevent Your Kids From Getting Sick

Mother Nature has menopause, here in the Northeast, and I am NOT complaining! In a state that saw Hurricane Sandy and some significant snow storms as early as mid-October, we are LOVING the 70 degree weather we've had this week. Still, we did have colder temps last week and more seasonal weather is on the horizon.

So how can you keep kids healthy in the face of Mother Nature's mood swings?

 Here are some tips:

 

 

1.  Dress them in layers. It can be 40 when they leave for school and 65 when they get out. Plus, they have recess for a good hour in the middle of the day. Layers are essential so they can adjust their clothing with the temps. My daughter wears a camisole top, then a short-sleeved shirt, and carries a little jacket. She dons leggings which she rolls up to form shorts in case she's too warm.

2.  Pack back-up gear in the car. I carry an extra, slightly heavier jacket for her in the trunk and gloves just in case the weather is significantly colder at pick-up. I also stock blankets in the back seat so she can bundle up in the mornings while we're waiting for the car's heat to go on.  My 15-year old?  He's on his own.

3.  Make sure the kids are hydrated. This would go without saying, but when I ask my kids how much they drink, they usually tell me they forgot to fill up their reusable water bottles. I carry bottled water they can grab as I taxi them around (or in the case of my son, seltzer) so I can watch them drink water.

 4.  Watch them take their vitamins in the morning. Just today, my son found his multi-vitamin on the table where he'd forgotten to eat it at breakfast-time. Watching him take his vitamin would have ensured he'd had the proper amount of nutrients to combat germs during the day.  Oops.

5.  Keep hand sanitizer out in the entryway when they get home and remind them to use it. Kids are not the best hand-washers and in the course of the school day, they've touched lots of surfaces that have been sneezed and coughed on. Reminding them to clean their hands when they first walk in the door, especially before they eat, will keep germs at minimum. 

Using these tips, I'm hoping no one gets sick for quite a while and that their immune systems are able to fend off the latest strain of cold/flu.

Warm weather is fun – being sick is not. Stack the odds that YOUR kids will remain healthy.

Thanks for reading!!!

9 Fascinating Tidbits About Germs, Handwashing & Keeping Your Family Healthy

Unlike some mothers, I am not a germophobe. I mean, kids get sick. Period. And they unwittingly spread germs. Period. In all likelihood, their father brings back more germs from his commute into the big city (subways – ewwww) than the children. Still, I am not a fan of my kids being sick. Right now, both are complaining of sore throats, although I always wonder if my younger one is telling the truth. Every time I complain of a menopausal hot flash, she claims she's having one, too. 

Being sick is no fun for anyone...

I did, however, perk up when I saw some posters about germs posted in one of the classrooms at the school where I work. 

 Let me share with you some fascinating stats about germs from the website itsasnap.org:

• Nearly 22 million school days are lost yearly due to the common cold (not the flu – COLDS).
  
  
• Frequent handwashing and refraining from sharing items like cups, towels, and utensils with an infected person should decrease the spread of viruses to other people.
• More than two-thirds (or 32 million) school-aged kids (ages 5 to 17 years) in the United States missed school in the past 12 months due to illness or injury.
• Some illnesses can live on places like doorknobs for up to two hours.
• Students don't clean their hands as often as they should or well enough. In one study, only 58% of female and 48% of male middle and high school students washed their hands after using the bathroom. Of these, only 33% of the females and 8% of the males used soap. Ewwww....
• Adults need to clean their hands better, too. In one study, 92% SAID they always wash their hands in public bathrooms, but only 77% were seen doing so. 
  
  

And here are some more stats from the website microbeworld.org:

- Guys are doing better at washing their hands than they have in the past. 77% of men washed their hands publicly in 2010 as compared to 66% in 2007.

- But men could do better at handwashing in sporting venues. Atlanta's Turner Field stadium had the worst percentage for men in 2010 at only 65% of men doing it. That's better, however, than just 57% in 2007. Turner Field did have the best stats for women among the sporting venues with 98% of women there washing their hands.

- Women are washing their hands more and more in public restrooms with a jump from 88% in 2007 to 93% in 2010.

I think the message here is that we really should be washing our hands more than we already are as a first line of defense against getting sick.


While soap and water is always the best, most of us hang those little bottles of hand sanitizer on our kids' backpacks; honestly, I'm just not sure my wee folk are using them all the time.

So here's what I do to minimize the chances of the family getting sick:

- Have hand sanitizer front and center when people walk into the house. I keep a big bottle of it on a cabinet and as soon as the kids or hubby walk in, they go for it.

- Always have some handy in the car or in a purse. I keep it on my purse and try to have the kids use it when they get in the car,especially after my daughter gets out of gymnastics (those mats can be NASTY). Wipes are fine, but I learned the hard way that they freeze in the winter.

- If I know someone who is sick has been in my car, I'll Lysol the car after they've been in it.

- Similarly, if a person who has been sick has been in the house, I'll wipe down doorknobs, faucets, light switches, etc. with a sanitizing wipe.

- I use hand sanitizer after using my credit card in a store. Those pens you sign with are teaming with bacteria!

- If possible, I'll use my own pen in public. Pens, again, harbor germs and you never know who has sneezed into their hands and then written something.

- Remind the family to use moisturizer on their hands at night. All that handwashing and sanitizing can dry out skin. Cracks invite germs into the body. Moisturizing stops that.

- Drink plenty of water. Flushing germs and keeping the mucous membranes hydrated during the dry winter months is essential in helping those parts of the body eliminate germs that do get into the body.

I'm not afraid of germs. I'm just vigilant about them. What methods do you take to keep your family healthy? I'd love to know!

Please note that I am not a doctor, healhcare professional or anything medical-related.  I'm just a humble mom, passing on advice that works for me.  

10 Stocking Stuffers For Your Teenage Boy That He'll LOVE

Every year I rack my brain trying to figure out what to put in the Teen's stocking!  Now that the simple days of Hot Wheels are over, it's much harder anticipating what might please him.  Sure, I could give Junior candy, but he gets enough sweets in the course of a day.  So after much thought, here's my list 10 things my teenage boy will probably find in his stocking come Christmas morning:

What can you put in a teenage boy's stocking that won't make him roll his eyes?

• A $5 Dunkin Donuts gift card. The DD is walkable from school and home. As my son becomes more independent, he likes to go with his friends for a hot chocolate and/or a doughnut every once in a while. And I like the fact that the cards are refillable, so HE can add money when it runs out.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Deodorant and body wash. This is a hint as well as a gift. Teen boys smell...funky. Axe seems to be the brand that all the kids in the locker room are wearing and I have actually smelled it on the boy, so I feel confident he'll actually use it. 
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Smelling like Axe is better than smelling like sweat.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  A phone charger. For some reason, these disappear around my house, especially now that Little Sister has an iPod Touch. Junior could use another charger that he can hide in his room away from Lily.    
  
  
  
  
• Socks. Sounds lame, right? Except that in my house, NO ONE wants to match socks, so these are somewhat of a commodity around here. White socks are apparently too confusing to match (the tops are different, the lengths are different, etc.). Some novelty socks will be appreciated and are EASY to match. Maybe then he'll stop stealing his little sister's “Hello Kitty” socks (I kid you not)!
  
  
  
  
• Dove Dark Chocolate. If I'm going to give him a little candy, it's going to be the antioxidant-rich dark chocolate he loves. 
  
  

  

  Research says dark chocolate is healthy.  Who am I to argue?

   
• Post-It Notes. Now that he's in high school, the teen goes through these sticky notes like they're water. Giving him his own stash will eliminate a lot of “MOM! WHERE ARE MY POST-IT NOTES?” yelling.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Texting Gloves. He knows he's going to lose at least 5 pair of gloves; I know it's more likely going to be 10. A few of these from our local Dollar Store will go a long way. The trick is to buy them in in the same color so when he loses one, it's no big deal. Again, it should save us some pain this winter.
  
  
  
  

  

  Texting gloves are great for a teenage boy!

  
  
• A Game Stop gift card. Since the kid is living online these days, I know he's going to use this. They're available starting at $10 and I know he's got others left over from birthdays, so alone or put together, he should be able to buy something he wants.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A “League Of Legends” poster. He plays this with his friends, so I think it's time to take down some of the sports posters the kid hasn't looked at in a year (despite them adorning the walls of his room) and replace at least one with something relevant to him.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Sometimes, I think he lives in a virtual world...

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Hand Sanitizer. Another essential that gets lost  or (thankfully) used up, keychains of this stuff may allow us to dodge a sick day or two.

All of these items are fairly inexpensive, useful and won't clutter his room with stuff I have to dust or things he'll look at once and never pick up again. And if I buy enough of them, it may make my weekly shopping a little easier as well. 

Teens are notoriously capricious, but I think I may earn a smile from my Boy with these items. Santa is being practical this year, Kid! 

 

What's going in YOUR teen boy's stocking?