Keeping Your Kids Healthy When Going Back to School
Tips from Premier Medical Group for preventing illnesses in your little ones.
Whether your children are just starting kindergarten or are off to college, they need to be prepared for the onslaught of other kids’ sneezing, coughing, and germs in general!
Vaccinations and Medication
Before starting school, children should be up-to-date on their vaccinations and health physicals. Some schools require documentation on a child’s health record before starting school. Be sure to make extra copies for school sports or camps. Check out our past blog on vaccines here.
If your child takes medication, like an inhaler, you might want to have extra medication to leave at school. Also, you’ll need their prescription and written consent for the school personnel to administer the medication.
Illness prevention
Illnesses are caused by viruses, bacteria, and parasites transmitted from person to person. When an infected person coughs or sneezes, the droplets can land on desks or books and then are transferred to other kids touching those surfaces.
- School-age children (6 – 12) average five or six colds a year.
- Adolescents (13 – 18) average four colds a year.
The main cause of frequent colds or illness is your child being exposed to new viruses when they spend time crowded together indoors with other children.
Hand Washing!
One of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of germs is hand washing, especially after using the restroom, blowing your nose, touching trash or animals and prior to touching food. Teach children to wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, and send them to school with an extra bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
College students should stock their dorm rooms with disinfecting wipes to clean their bathroom surfaces and more.
If your kids are sick… keep them home!
When children are sick, their immune systems are affected and their resistance to illness is lowered. So you don’t want them exposed to other germs. It’s also nice to keep your kids at home to lessen the risk to other children.
The CDC has more specific guidelines and recommendations for the seasonal flu vaccine. Read more about it here.
Check out some of our past blogs that are helpful for back to school:
- Setting up routines. Link here.
- Kindergarten parents. Link here.
- Kids need chores. Link here.
- Doctor’s advice to parents about viruses. Link here.
If your child needs a pre-school check-up, contact Premier Medical Group today to schedule an appointment with someone on our PMG care team. We’ll help you improve your overall health. It is all a part of “Full Circle Care”.