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It’s back to school time, which doesn’t mean just new books, pencils, and folders. It also means that kids returning to school are going to be encountering all kinds of new germs and illnesses. Somehow that’s just not as exciting as a new bright pink calculator, is it?
Although you can’t help them avoid every illness, there are definitely things you can do to help them be healthier. While I always thought sick days were bothersome, it’s become even more difficult now.
With my children starting 6th, 10th, and 11th grades this school year, it is harder on them to miss school days because of illnesses. With piles of make up work and worries about falling behind, they all try to avoid missing school as much as possible. That’s why we are trying harder than ever to keep kids healthy this school year.
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6 Easy Ways to Keep Kids Healthy This School Year
Encourage Good Choices for Well Rounded Eating
It’s easier to work more efficiently and stay healthier if you’re avoiding too much junk food, and filling your plate with healthy proteins and vegetables and fruits. In order to help the kids, we’re trying to be better about offering breakfast choices that contain some proteins, as well as trying to always include vegetables at dinner time.
At school, however, they’re all old enough that they have to make their own choices in the cafeteria. We’ve talked about things that are better choices, as well as things that are fine once in a while, but probably not every single day.
Stay Hydrated
At school, it’s easy to skip out on liquids and just grab a sip from the drinking fountain now and then. A school day is too long to go without plenty of fluids, however. When one of our kids kept getting headaches at school, one of the things that cut down on the number of headaches (and helped him focus more in classes) was when he worked hard on making sure that he was drinking significantly more water during the day.
At our schools, my kids have been able to take water bottles with them. Drinking more water is a great way to work on staying healthy. Check for options at your school for making sure that your kids are keeping well hydrated during the school day.
Cultivate Healthy Sleeping Habits
When kids (and adults) get worn down from not having enough sleep, it’s so much easier to get run down and sick. By making sure that your kids are getting enough sleep each night, it will go a long way toward helping to keep kids healthy this school year. Some great healthy sleep habits are:
- Encouraging no electronics after a certain point in the evening
- Having kids work on homework after school to avoid trying to get it done at the end of the night
- Making sure kids’ rooms are conducive for sleeping
Keep Active During the School Year
If your child is not involved in sports, it can be too easy to get into a routine of waking up, going to school, doing homework, getting in some computer or video game time, and then heading to bed. An active body is very frequently a healthier body. As a bonus, you can use this as an excuse to keep active as well!
We love to take advantage of the weather as the summer heat starts to die down by taking lots of family walks. Not only do it encourage us to have more family time, but it also gets us up and moving.
Work on Personal Habits
One of the most important personal habits to teach kids is about hand washing. Not only are germs and bacteria easy to spread from person to person, but they also cover so many objects and surfaces, especially in classrooms!
During my student teaching and first year of teaching, I was sick more often than I had been in years. My days were busy, and I know that I was not washing my hands nearly as much as I should have throughout the day.
Work with your kids to teach them the importance of avoiding touching their mouth and eyes, as well as washing their hands well before they eat and after they use the restroom. My kids know my affinity for hand washing, and so they know that as soon as they get home from school, they should wash their hands as well.
Other important personal habits to work on are covering their coughs and sneezes with their elbow and arm, instead of their hands, as well as showering or bathing regularly.
Cleaning at Home (and at School!)
One of the items that we never skip when we’re cleaning the house, and that we do more regularly during times of illness, is to clean as many surfaces as possible with Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. We especially make sure to clean off those often used, but easy to forget, door knobs and light switches.
By working on cleaning at home with Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, we try to keep those school germs and bacteria away. This not only helps the kids, but it helps to keep us healthier too!
Clorox Disinfecting Wipes aren’t just good for home, however. Remembering how crazy busy back-to-school time can be for teachers, I know that Clorox Disinfecting Wipes are perfect for sending in to school too!
Teachers are so busy, they don’t need things to be complicated, including cleaning up around their rooms. While most schools have janitors, that kind of day-to-day germ-killing cleaning is usually left to teachers. When I was teaching, I loved using Clorox Disinfecting Wipes to quickly and easily wipe down tables and desks.
When teachers have an easier way to clean the room, it is more likely to happen. Teachers’ schedules are busy enough without those kinds of extra tasks. Clorox Disinfecting Wipes are perfect for that task, since they not only kill 99% of germs and bacteria, but they are also great multi-tasking, multi-surface cleaners. This makes Clorox Disinfecting Wipes a perfect school supply to send in to your child’s classroom!
Help Others While Helping Your School
Sending in supplies to school isn’t the only way you can help. You can also help when you shop! For every $5 you spend on Clorox, Hidden Valley, and Glad Products, you’ll receive $1 (up to $5) that you can either redeem as a donation to DonorsChoose.org or as money off on future purchases.
- Buy it. Buy any Clorox®, Glad® or Hidden Valley Ranch® product.
- Snap it. Snap a pic of your receipt.
- Upload. Upload your receipt to earn a donation or cash back.
To learn more, please visit their website at www.cloroxforschools.com
To connect with Clorox and learn more about their products, you can check them out on:
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Healthy, restful sleep and a sleep schedule are something we’ve been working on for a long time. The kid is the most restless sleeper. He used his smartphone and computer a lot before going to bed, so he was overexcited, often woke up, and was constantly sleepy and tired. Our compromise was no electronics an hour before bedtime. And nighttime sleep was so much better.
Thank you, helpful article! We need to consider all of these aspects for the health of the child.