You don’t want your little ones to get sick, and whenever they do, you probably wish you were able to protect them better. When you see your child feeling miserable and suffering from a cold or flu, do you think, “If only I could just put them in a bubble to keep them safe from all the germs”?
You can’t, of course. Your child needs to be able to experience the world- to touch it and interact with it. They can’t do that if they are kept away from everything. However, there are some things that you can do to minimize their contact with germs and keep them safe from infection and illness. Here are a few tips that will help you to protect your kids better and safeguard them from germs.
Teach Toddlers How to Clean Their Hands
Many parents underestimate what their kids are able to learn and how quickly they are ready to adopt new skills and habits. Hand washing and general cleanliness are practices that kids can learn at a very young age. Even before they are talking much, kids can learn all sorts of complex motor skills. If they can walk, they can learn to keep themselves clean.
Maybe you don’t think your kid is ready to learn how to wash their hands for themselves or keep their hands clean, but you can give them a chance to learn. Set a stool near the sink so that they can reach it for themselves. Place hand sanitizer bottles in reach so that they can clean their hands for themselves. Then, observe your kid and see if they use these cleaning stations properly. If they try to play in the water or ingest the hand sanitizer, they may need some supervision or may need further training. But if they pick up on how to wash and sanitize their hands quickly, you may be able to leave them unsupervised and train them when to use the sink and the sanitizer. Some kids pick up these skills faster and are responsible when using the sink and sanitizer. If yours does that, then you can rest a little easier in their level of cleanliness and how many germs they are coming into contact with.
Have Your Home Cleaned Often
One of the best things you can do for your kids to help them stay clean is to keep a clean home. Toddlers will touch everything they can and put things the find on the floor into their mouths. That’s why it is so important to keep your house clean as often as you can. Kids don’t understand the dangers of picking up dirt and tasting it or touching every surface that they can reach. They need you to watch out for them and to keep a clean space.
Taking care of your kids, working a job, and doing all of your other responsibilities may not leave much time for house cleaning. Even if you do get some time for it, are you getting enough time to clean your home so well that it is practically germ free? Most people would say “no”. If that’s true of you, even sometimes, then consider same day maids in San Diego. Having professionals do the cleaning you need to get done can help you to feel better about how clean your home is. You won’t have to wonder if each surface is clean or if there is still dirt left on the floor after it has been vacuumed. They will likely be very thorough and will make your home exceptionally clean.
Discourage Food and Drink Sharing
Kids love to share, usually. If they like something, they will likely try to get someone else to enjoy it with them. How many times have your kids stuffed their food into your face for you to try some? How many times have they asked for something that someone else has? Most kids think everything should be shared, but while they are sharing food and drinks, they are also sharing germs.
You should discourage your toddlers from sharing these things, especially when they are sick or are around someone else who is sick. If you can get them to not share their food except with permission from you, then you can keep them safe from plenty of germs and infections. You may feel like you are depriving them of some of the experiences they would get to have otherwise or from some social interactions, but you are also depriving them of being sick.
Keep Them Close when Sickness Is Spreading
Your kids probably love playdates, but if they routinely spend time with other kids when there is a cold or flu spreading around, then your kids will come back feeling unwell. Kids pick up just about every kind of sickness they get close to. Remember that they are always touching things and always putting things into their mouths. If you are careful about who they spend time with and at what times they have playdates, keeping them away during cold season, then you can protect them from a lot of viruses.
Stay on top of virus reports and find out when illnesses are spreading in your area. You can do your part to keep your kids from catching these things and from spreading them around your household. Also keep them away from sick family members, even those who live in the same household use social distancing measures as much as possible when there is sickness in the house, quarantining those who caught an illness until they are all better.
Because kids tend to be very affectionate and want to be held and touched, they can easily catch diseases that other people have. It would be safer to limit their contact with sick people, even if it causes a little emotional pain. It’s for their safety, remember.
If you can do these practices for your kids, you will keep them away from germs and prevent numerous illnesses.
