Every Tuesday morning I volunteer in my daughter’s 1st grade classroom. I read books with the kids and work on their sight word flash cards with them. Since about the end of October at least a few kids in the class have had some kind of cold. This past week one of the students had a coughing fit and politely covered his mouth with his hands. When the fit was over, he picked up his flash cards with that same hand and then tried to hand the flash card to me! I suddenly understood how easily the kids share germs.
Catching some kind of bug during the winter may seem inevitable, but I try hard to do my best to avoid as many as we can. Here are 4 things I do to try and help my kids stay healthy during the winter.
1) Get lots of rest: It seems like the further we get in to the school year, the busier we get. It can be hard to stick to a good bed time with so much going on. My kids are constantly trying to push their bed time back by 30 minutes. I give in on the weekends, but on the weekdays, we stick to our guns.
2) Eat healthy food: My mother-in-law called chicken broth “Jewish penicillin” – and I swear she was right! I make a lot of chicken broth based soups during the winter including matzo ball soup. Whatever eating health means to you – stick with it. Sometimes, though, even with the best of intentions I can’t keep up so I supplement with a vitamin like Lil Critters gummy vitamins.
3) Take a day off: This one is so hard to do, but so beneficial! My family sets aside one day to take off. That means we don’t do any work at all. We take naps, go to a park, go on a family outing, or just hang out at home in our pajamas all day. We take a break from the daily grind to relax and play together. It can be hard to fit in but we all feel energized after our day off.
4) Wash your hands: After the little incident with the flash cards, I’m now washing my hands a lot more. I just use old plain old soap and water, but I make sure to do it after being at the school every week. I also have the kids make sure to wash up a little more often. Having cute soap dispensers seems to help the kids want to wash up, too.
How about you? Do you have any tips for keeping your kids healthy this winter? Tell us in the comments!
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Mitch
December 7, 2013I just made 15 gallons of chicken soup last week! I freeze half of it so I have it on hand for winter colds.
I am so happy to see we share that!
Mitch
valmg
December 7, 2013Both of my kids had the flu shot. I try to be sure if the must go out when it’s nasty that they’re prepared, but often I’d rather them stay in and be safe and warm.
Emily
December 6, 2013I think that as adults we look at how little responsibility children have in relation to us, so we feel like the are carefree. But in reality, the responsibility that an 8 year old has feels like a lot for them. So just like us, they get needing breaks from school and just the daily grind of life too. So I totally agree that once in a great while it’s great to just forget the world and have a lazy, cozy day together.
Debi
December 6, 2013I am looking for all ideas on keeping these kids healthy. We have been battling tons of sickies.
Tammilee Tillison
December 6, 2013I just told my Husband we need to take tomorrow off and just relax. We are both getting the run down utto we might catch something feeling. Thank you for the great tips.
Lindsay
December 5, 2013Thank you for the great tips. I want to schedule a family “day of rest” soon! And must make more soups!!