Should we be exposing our children to germs or should we be walking around with hand sanitizer in our purses?

Babies and little children tend to get sick a lot, especially after they join a daycare or preschool for the first time.

Unfortunately babies and toddlers put their hands in their mouths a lot, and also put toys in their mouths, especially babies who are teething. Other babies and toddlers will then pick up the same toys and put it in their mouths a minute later, and that’s how they pass their germs to one another. Is this avoidable? Not really when they are this little. However the best thing that one can do about this is to teach your baby and toddler from a very young age, not to put toys in their mouths. Take it out their mouths and repeatedly say, no Michael no toys in your mouth. It will take a long time but eventually when they become toddlers, they will learn not to put either toys or their hands in their mouths.

One doesn’t always have the time to wash toys daily, but when ever you have a chance you should try and keep the toys clean, also if you have taken a toy out of your child’s mouth, immediately put in the sink to be cleaned.

From the time your children are babies and toddlers, get them in to the habit of washing their hands, before and after meal time.

As your children grow into school age children, the best method of prevention of germs is to them to wash their hands. Get your children to wash their hands before and after meal time, as well as each time after going to the bathroom.

Although we do not want our children getting sick often, it is not always a bad thing, if our children are exposed to some form of germs. This helps build up a strong immune system later in life. We wonder how doctors stay as healthy as they do when they have a lot of bad germs around them, and this is probably because they have been exposed to so many bad germs they have had the opportunity to build up a stronger immune system. It is important to introduce your children to as many different types of foods as you can when they are young, this can also help build up their immune system, and prevent allergies later on.

One doesn’t realize that your children are not only exposed to germs in daycares, preschool and schools, but that even in the parks and shopping malls and any other public place, they are exposed to germs.

Don’t wrap your child up in cotton wool, but provide them with a healthy and nutritious diet, exercise, and a positive outlook on life, and your child will grow and develop into a healthy child.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 8:02 pm and is filed under health, Food, Toddlers & Preschoolers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.