Teach Your Kids Healthy Habits – Combat Swine Flu in the Process!

Everyone is writing about the Swine Flu right now, so what is one more article, right? My 5 year old affectionately calls it “Piggy Flu.” I’m not going to offer suggestion that haven’t been mentioned before. There are plenty of places to go to find out what to do to “prepare and prevent.” What I want to do is talk about a few habits that my wife and I have trained our kids to do that can go a long way, not only in combating Swine Flu, but also bolstering your defense against other flues and the common cold.

Just a few words up front. I don’t make any claims that this will prevent illness. They will, however, help to reduce the possibility of the transmission of viruses from public places. Also, some of the tips that I offer here take time in terms of training your children. Your goal should be making these tips and habits second nature to them so that they simply do it out of habit. In fact, you don’t have to be a child to follow them. They are perfectly usable by adults.

Our Special Habits

Over a period of years, my wife and I have trained our children to do specific things when in public places (e.g., stores, schools, bathrooms, friends’ houses, etc.). Even with this training, we constantly remind them to follow these practices and praise them when they actually do. Also, we follow some SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) when it comes to illness within our family.

Below are some tips  and SOPs that you may find helpful:

• Wash Hands – This is a given. We tell them that they must wash hands all of the time. It’s a proven fact that the more lengthy, vigorous and frequent the hand washing, the less likely germs are able to survive. We also implement this when friends come to visit our house, but for multiple reasons. Since we have a child with severe peanut allergies, we “require” all children who come into our house to wash hands immediately (to remove any peanut traces, germs, et al). In fact, many of the friends who visit automatically go straight to the bathroom now when they come over. One of my daughters who plays the piano is trained to wash her hands right after a lesson. We also teach them to wash and scrub for a long time, ideally 20 seconds.
• Remove Shoes – Removing shoes when entering our house is another requirement that we have. We have a rule at home ever since our kids were infants since they spend most of their time crawling all over the rugs and floors. Let’s face it, a kid’s world is on the floor. The soles of shoes carry all sorts of odd things, gum, dirt, dog poop, stuff from bathroom floors, you name it. It’s better to just leave that stuff outside where it belongs.
• Use Elbows/Not Fingers – A big mistake that people do in public is touch things that are highly trafficked. A prime example is elevator buttons. Our children know that they should NEVER touch buttons with their fingers, but only with elbows. This is now second nature for them. I even find myself using my knuckles to touch elevator buttons instead of my fingers.
• Shirt Sleeves for Handles – During flu season, most kids wear long sleeves. This is a built-in helpful tool for opening doors. It takes some practice since handles become a bit slippery, but training your kids to cover their hands with their sleeves adds an extra layer of protection from germs residing on door handles.
• Cover Sneezes & Coughs with Inside of Elbow – Many pre-schools and kindergartens now practice this technique. When you feel a sneeze or cough coming on, do it into your the inside of your elbow, not your hand. Sneezing into your hand contaminates it instantly, and anything you touch seconds thereafter.
• Hand Sanitizers – These are NOT a replacement to a good hand washing. However, if you ARE stuck without access to a bathroom, hand sanitizers are a great product to have with you. We carry them in cars, the kids have them with their backpacks, and we always have them available. Do note, these kill both bad AND good bacteria so don’t use them all of the time. The same goes for anti-bacterial soap at home. It is better to use regular soap and scrub well than deplete your hands of good bacteria.
• Track Sick Kids – This is two-fold. For one, if your child becomes ill, keep a log of their progress, good or bad. It is helpful to note symptoms for when they visit the doctor. Also, if your child does become sick, track back to who they played with or saw at school. Secondly, at dinner, find out who was absent from school and why they were out. If that child was out because they were sick, find out if your child played with that child earlier and if they did, be on alert for symptoms.
• If They’re Sick, Keep Them Home! – While it is true than many schools lose some funding based on absences at school, if your child is ill, keep them home! If you let them go to school with a fever, they run the risk of infecting other kids, compounding the number of absences as well. Also, 1 or 2 days at home go a long way in terms of recovery. Sending them to school not only increases the risk of spreading infection, but it also lengthens the duration of their own illness.
• No Kisses when Sick – This one is really hard. Even if one of our family members is has a slight cold, they are not allowed to kiss or be kissed.
• Wipe-down Madness – When someone is sick in our family, we wipe down all highly trafficked touch-places like door handles, counters, etc. Clorox, for example, makes a great wipe that goes a long way towards germ elimination on surfaces.
• Don’t Drink from Public Drinking Fountains – BYOB (bring your own bottle). Public water fountains are covered with germs and other gross things. The button is usually wet, a great haven for germs to hang out and many kids actually suck on the water spout. Need I say more?
• Use a Paper Towel on Door Handles when Exiting Bathroom – Just like wet drinking fountain buttons, inside bathroom door handles, especially those in public are covered with all sorts of nasty things. Train your kids to use a paper towel to open the door when they leave. Many establishments now realize that people do this healthy habit and conveniently put a trash can right next to the door.
• Avoid Shopping Carts – You probably have seen shows that reveal how absolutely disgusting shopping carts truly are. When you get a shopping cart, use your sleeves to grab the handle or wipe the touchable areas down with some disinfectant wipes. If you have a toddler, you might want to invest in one of these (“Floppy Seats“).
• Don’t Share Food – My kids reminded me of this one. It is critical that they don’t share snacks or food or meals in any form or manner. Pretty obvious, but frequently overlooked and often forgotten in the lunch mayhem that ensues at school.

So there you have it. Some health tips from my family. Obviously these won’t make you immune to colds, viruses or even the “piggy flu”, but it is a good way to reduce the risk of catching something. I actually ran this list by my kids during dinner and we had a contest to see if I had missed any. The last four were their suggestions, and they did mention many on my original list. That sure made me a happy daddy!

What healthy habits does your family follow? Leave a comment and add to the list. And be sure to share this list with others to spread the word!

HTD Says: Keep your kids healthy now and in the future by following the healthy habits points above.