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Stopping the spread of sickness between children during winter

Winter is here. With the change in weather comes an increase in colds and flu. Especially amongst children. If you work in a childcare center, keeping kids healthy during the winter should be a number one priority.

And of course, you want to keep yourself healthy too.

While sickness prevention is never a 100% guarantee, there are a number of precautions you can take to minimize the spread of sickness during the winter.

Washing Hands

The most common way people spread germs is through touch. Since your hands do most of the touching, it’s crucial that they’re kept clean. When dealing with kids, it’s easier to enforce hand washing. Stand there and check to make sure they actually wash them if needed. Also, make sure that they’ve been shown how to correctly wash their hands.

Clean Everything

It’s not just people that need to be cleaned. Everything that comes into contact with those people should be cleaned as well. Make sure you’re disinfecting tables, desks, toys, and more. Especially during the winter.

Sharing isn’t Always Caring

While you don’t want to teach kids to be selfish, it’s important that you keep them from sharing things that come into contact with their mouths. This includes food, cups, utensils, etc.

Enforce a Sick Policy

Most childcare facilities have some form of sickness policy. Yours should too. The general rule is that children cannot return until 24 hours after their sickness is passed. Even though the symptoms are gone earlier, the germs that caused the sickness are likely still present.

It’s not always convenient for parents, but it’s what’s best the children.

Keep Warm

Cold weather has long been linked to sickness. It wasn’t until recently that scientists were actually able to provide proof that cold temperatures make you more susceptible to viruses. Simply put, a warm child is at a lower risk of getting sick.

So make sure everyone is keeping warm and bundled up.

Sickness Prevention Won’t Stop Emergencies

While these precautions are great for keeping general sickness away, they won’t help a child in an emergency situation. To prepare for that, you need training.  For BLS certification and CPR training in Minnesota, MMTS is here.

Check out our public classes or contact us directly for onsite training. Stay healthy out there.

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