Germs in a Childcare Center
Posted by Danielle Terlonge on Sun, Mar 06, 2011
We face germs every single day, wherever we may go, but in childcare, we seem to face many different types of germs and bugs. Think of your child. How many times per year are they sick? How many different bugs do they catch? Now multiply that by about 75. That is a huge number of germs that our children are coming into contact with each day. There are many ways that childcare centers try to keep buildings clean and germ-free, but you can help too.
1. Teach your child proper hand washing techniques.
Just like everything else that children learn, they need to be shown and taught how to properly wash their hands. They do not know how much soap to use, how long to scrub their hands (we say they should scrub while singing through the ABCs one time), to turn off the faucet with a paper towel and so on. Very often children think water is enough to wash their hands. We teach them at school how to wash their hands, but home reinforcement is essential as well.
2. Teach your child when to wash their hands.
Sure, knowing how to wash your hands is vital, but if you don't know when to do so, it is worthless. Let's face it - children like to put their hands in some pretty weird places - noses, mouths, fish tanks, sand boxes... the list goes on and on. In childcare centers, we try to abide by the following hand washing guidlines: Children should wash their hands before and after eating any food, after going to the bathroom, after coming in from outside, and any other time that germs seem to have been spread, such as sneezing.
3. You can help stop the spread of germs from home.
I know that we are all busy in our lives and that work is important to help pay the bills. That makes it very easy to look at your child who has a snotty nose and say "It's just a cold, you'll be ok at daycare." Well, it may be a cold, but when your child brings those cold germs into the building, they get passed around. Colds are not too terrible, but imagine if a child is vomiting or has pink eye and the parent still sends them to school. Do you want your child to catch those germs? If you do not want your child to get sick from other's germs, don't send them to school when they are full of germs. Students, teachers, and parents would all appreciate it.
No one can avoid germs completely, but by observing some "germ etiquette" we can all keep our children healthier and safer at school.
Children at Color Our Rainbow Academy Akron learned about germs and how they are spread. Glue (representing mucus) and glitter (representing germs) were put in a child's hand and the children shook hands and interacted to see how they shared germs.
