Pediatrician’s Perspective: Clever Parents Want to Know About Avoiding the Spread of Germs

Now that school is back in session, what can parents do to help avoid spreading germs?

Whenever people encounter each other they can easily pass germs back and forth. Most of them are relatively benign, but some can cause significant and even serious disease. You can protect yourself to some extent from those germs that cause disease by frequent hand washing and by keeping hands away from your face and nose and out of your mouth (not an easy thing to do). To protect others, again wash your hands often, cover your mouth with your elbow when you cough or sneeze, discard Kleenex appropriately, and keep your children home when they are sick. Avoid crowded rooms and flying on airplanes, especially during winter and cold season.

But also, trust your child’s body. In childhood, we meet numerous viruses and bacteria, and thus our bodies can learn how to fight them off. Children often do much better with diseases than adults do, and childhood is the time to arm oneself against many diseases for life. If you live in a bubble, you might not get sick, but you won’t learn to protect yourself either.

So pace yourselves. Take care of yourselves when you are sick. Live so your body is equipped to respond well if a disease does infect you—good nutrition, good rest, good exercise, good fun, not too much stress. And be wise. Some people, and all people at some times, need to avoid certain diseases. Some people have degrees of impaired immune function that make them especially vulnerable. Some diseases are too dangerous to risk getting. If you find that your child is not handling an illness well, seek medical attention.