Just when you thought cold and flu season was over...
Two Christmases ago, we were unhappy participants in the rampaging outbreak of Norovirus. My older son picked it up in Orlando, presumably among the masses at Disney World. As he proceeded to “share” it with me, his brother, my parents and a couple cousins, we spent a lot of time talking about germs and how to avoid them.
When we weren’t vomiting.
With today’s headlines focused on swine flu and a possible pandemic, it feels like the right time to re-visit the subject.
Here are our Top 7 Healthy Family Tips for Making Your Children Flu-Resistant.
1. Set an Intention. Expect to be strong and healthy. Live like you are strong and healthy. Write an affirmation for yourself and your family and use it. Something like, “We are always healthy, strong and safe. We spread good health and happiness everywhere we go. We are always surrounded by healthy, happy people.”
2. Be Healthy, Happy People. Take care of yourselves. Get enough sleep. Drink lots of fresh, clean water. Eat a healthy, whole foods diet with lots of organic fruits and vegetables. Send some TLC to your immune system.
3. Be Clean People: Wash Up! Teach your children (by example) to wash their hands routinely, using warm water and soap, for at least twenty seconds. The tip here is to sing, “Happy Birthday” while lathering to ensure you get the full twenty. Doing it out loud might make it more fun.
4. Keep Your Hands to Yourself. Train yourselves to stop touching your eyes, mouth, nose and ears. This is harder than it sounds, but just think about everything else you touch during the day. Where do you think all those germs are going??
This might be best approached as a group activity. Agree on a kind and gentle reminder phrase to use whenever you spot a family member spreading germs unconsciously. Maybe something like, “I love you. Please take your finger out of your nose.”
5. Use the Elbow. Ideally, we would all be sneezing and coughing into disposable tissues, but this is probably not practical, especially with children. Train them instead to sneeze into their elbow. The goal here is a) Don’t sneeze on someone else, or even in their general direction; and b) Don’t sneeze into your hand (see item 4 above.)
6. Stay in Your Bubble. This would be a good time to talk about the concept of personal space. I’m not saying you should stop hugging your children, but if you can keep them out of crowds and teach them to not hover ear to ear with their friends at school, you just might save them a bout with the flu. Teach them to politely move away from people that are sniffling, sneezing or just plain too close. Consider hosing them down when they get off the bus.
(Just kidding. Maybe.)
My parents and siblings would probably want me to add this final note: If you do find the flu in your household, Stay Home. (Or see your medical professional, as needed.) The point is, try not to spread it.
You’ve undoubtedly covered many of these ideas with your children in the past, probably during the more typical cold and flu season between December and April.
Still, with the words “swine flu” and “pandemic” in every headline, this feels like an important time to bring a renewed focus. Consider naming May Healthy Habits Month in your family. Make a poster and put some energy around it. Practice.
In the meantime, let’s all send blessings to our world today, for a happy and healthy future.
“We are always healthy, strong and safe. We spread good health and happiness everywhere we go. We are always surrounded by healthy, happy people.”
Amen.
Recommended Reading:
You build a healthy family one day – and one choice – at a time. This might be the month for a real overhaul of your daily practices.
I made major changes in my lifestyle after reading the following: Recapture Your Health, by Walt Stoll and Jan DeCourtney; The Body Ecology Diet, by Donna Gates; and You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise Hay.
As Swine Flu is spread by human to human contact, and children are the # 1 spreaders of germs, it becomes imperative to educate children on how germs are spread.
Young children don't spread germs because they want to, they don't know how NOT to.
Germy Wormy Germ Smart for Kids educates and entertains kids while teaching them how to NOT spread germs.
Please pass along to anyone who has young children and is concerned about the spread of the Swine Flu
http://www.germywormy.com
Posted by: Margaret Back | April 27, 2009 at 05:30 AM