While a new school year offers fresh experiences that promote growth and potential, it also brings sneezing and coughing.

With children spreading germs from coughing into their hands and touching classroom items, it’s easy to catch a cold.  Here are a few basics to help keep your kids healthy throughout the school year.

Keep Germs at Bay

It’s a no-brainer that a school classroom is a breeding ground for germs due to children not practicing good hygiene such as:

• Forgetting to wash hands before meal time
• Touching surfaces such as pencils, door knobs, desks, and other surfaces that harbor germs
• Touching their faces, spreading germs from their fingers to their mouths, noses, and eyes
• Spreading airborne illnesses by sneezing and coughing without covering their mouths

Why Kids Get Sick

Everyone gets the occasional 24 hour bug, or the common cold, however, children are more prone to getting sick for reasons such as:

• Sitting within close proximity to their classmates
• Tend to have bad habits that easily spread germs
• They are more vulnerable to getting sick because their immune systems are still developing

How to Reduce Risk of Infection

While it’s impossible to completely eliminate the risk of infection, there are a few things you can do to reduce your child’s exposure to germs.

• Teach your kids to thoroughly wash your hands
• Get a seasonal flu shot to reduce your child’s risk of getting the flu
• Tell your kids to use hand sanitizer throughout the day
•  Teach your kids to avoid toughing their faces and cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze
• Staying home when sick

Due to a busy work schedule, it can be difficult to take time off when your child is sick, but keeping your child in school when they’re sick can lead to outbreaks that affect other students.  If your child exhibits symptoms of an infection, keep them home until they feel better.

If their symptoms persist, be sure to bring them to AFC Urgent Care Watertown for treatment.  Our urgent care center treats an array of cold and flu-like symptoms on a walk-in basis.

For more information about the services we provide, please call us at 617-923-2273.