Monday, January 23, 2012

Icky, Yucky Germs

I will full heartedly admit I am not the neatest, most organized person in the world. In fact, I HATE cleaning. I would much rather spend time playing IN the mud with my kids, then scrubbing the kitchen floor.  They are only little once, right?


With that said, when  one of my kids comes home with a sniffle, cough, or sore throat, I go into super germ killing mode. With 3 kids and a total of 5 people in the house, it almost ALWAYS spreads around. Currently we are in the midst of a horrible cough/sinus thing. Slightly worried Baby J is developing pneumonia, but pedi wants to wait until tomorrow to listen again... I wish I had a stethoscope I could use at home (and actually know what I am listening for) because all these trips to the pedi are annoying and COSTLY!


I hate seeing my kids in pain or discomfort. So when they are sick I will do everything in my power to make them feel better, AND prevent the others from catching it. I can frequently been seen spraying the hell out of doorknobs, and faucets with Lysol, and my kitchen always smells like bleach.  Like I said before, I hate cleaning, but when I do clean, the smell of bleach is the only way I know it's clean. For hubby, that smell is Pine-Sol, and while I somewhat like the smell, I hate using that stuff. I feel like its sticky and gross... anyway... back to my point.


I have taken some steps this school year to reduce the amount of sickness that comes home. The biggest and best advice I can give: Send your kid to school with a reusable water bottle (ours is an ICarly Thermos and we love it). The bubbler is soooo disgusting. So many little mouths on it, and germs, and hands, and germs... Ugh I shudder to even think about it. It's not just me feeling this way- in fact in my freshmen year of high school, we took slices of bread and wiped them on different part of the school (bubbler, toilet seat, lunch table, doorknobs, etc) and the slice that grew the most mold was the bubbler!  I will say I have noticed a very large decrease in the number of colds and strep throat this year!


 I also have given Peanut a antibac spray stick, for her to use before snack and lunch. While this is NOT take the place of hand washing, and she knows this, sometimes in class they are so crunched for time, they do not have time for a trip to the bathroom. Cue- antibac spray!


I know that germs are inevitable, and I am not the kind of person to freak out over Swine Flu, or Mad Cow Disease, but if I can take a few steps a day, to prevent my little ones from needless suffering, you better bet your boots I will! Do you have any tricks or tips for germ prevention?


Love always, 
Mandi

2 comments:

  1. I have been blessed with the fact that my family only gets sick once or twice a year. I have never had the flu, but I get killer sinus infections. My son has never had a cold/flu/sinus infection, but that poor baby gets croup. It kills me when I hear him coughing and trying to breath when he sleeps. When your babies get sick its like the world has ended.

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    1. None of my girls ever had croup, so when Baby J got it for the first time, I like freaked out because hearing that noise over the baby monitor in the middle of the night was just plain scary! Now I am used to it, as he gets croup cough every time he is sick. I just hope this doesnt mean something bad in the long run (asthma, alleriges, etc)

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