Parents are getting ready to send their children back to school, and many of them are concerned about their health. This is for good reason given the current state of affairs, but it’s important to know that there are measures you can take to keep them safe. Have a look at four simple measures below on ways to keep your children healthy as they go to school this winter.
Tips that will help you send your children to school confidently, secure in the knowledge that they’re considerably safer from germs and diseases.
Make Sure They’re Mentally Healthy
With about 2.63 million students getting enrolled in private elementary schools in the United States in 2016, it’s easy to see just how many students are enrolled in school at any given time. Some children may find it stressful to be in the school environment due to the hassle of exams and instances of bullying, so it’s important to make sure that while you aim to keep them in good physical health, you also keep their mental health in check.
Watch for signs of anxiety or depression and take steps to remedy them if you observe any so that your children will stay in good overall health.
Give Them Healthy Meals
Eating a healthy, nutritious diet is one of the easiest ways to stay in good health, so make sure to serve good meals to your children. Provide them with a healthy mix of protein, fruits, vegetables, and others so that they can have a naturally boosted immune system.
Doing this will lower the need for medical supplements, but if there is a mineral or vitamin that’s not readily available to you, don’t hesitate to give it to them in the form of oral supplements. This will help them build a great immunity that will make it easy for their bodies to fight off opportunistic infections.
Teach Them to Wash Their Hands Well
Proper handwashing is one of the easiest ways to help your child stay healthy and avoid illnesses that may spread throughout their school. Paired with other safety measures, you may end the school term without a single instance of illness.
With 4.6% of children between the ages of five to 11 years missing 11 or more school days during the past 12 months due to illness or injury, this is a cause for stress when they rejoin their classmates and have to try to catch up.
Help your children avoid this eventuality by showing them how to wash their hands well, not forgetting to point out the right length of time for doing so to ensure they get all the disease-causing micro-organisms off.
Flu viruses can survive on a hard surface for a whopping 48 hours, and this is enough time for your child to touch a contaminated surface and pick up the virus.
Ensure They Get Enough Sleep
Getting the right amount and quality of sleep is vital for a child’s health, both mental and physical. Come up with a school night routine that ensures they get to bed early enough to sleep well so that by the time they need to wake up, they’re refreshed and ready to face the day.
This post on establishing a school night bedtime routine includes tips on how to do just that along with a helpful free printable checklist to help you set up and keep a school night bedtime routine that will help your children sleep well and wake refreshed.
Starting this routine now will give you ample time to practice and get it right once school gets back in session. When you’re all used to the routine in question, it will be a breeze to keep at it and you will all benefit from the extra hours of rest your child gets.
Final Thoughts on Ways to Keep Your Children Healthy at School
With the four suggestions above, you have the chance to keep your child in good health in the coming school session. Use them as a guideline and then send your child off to school without the constant fear that they will come down with one illness or another.