Staying ahead of the flu

Here's something I learned the hard way with my first child: if I don't sanitize his hands as soon as I put him in the car after playing at the playground, it is GUARANTEED that he will have a cold or the flu within two days. Lukas was a great thumb sucker (he's still a closet thumb sucker, but that's another story) and the moment I started the engine, the thumb went in his mouth and the germs spread throughout his body.

Yuck!

Then our daughter was born, and in addition to more doctor visits than I would care to remember, we spent three days a week at the local children's hospital as Natalie learned to eat by mouth through e-stim therapy. Three days a week, for six months...then twice a week for another six months. I loved seeing all the friendly faces at the hospital, but I was secretly grimacing at the thought of the rampant germs running all over my kids' bodies the moment we entered the building. Because, when you enter, you touch! And those fingers eventually go into the mouth, nose and eyes.

So here's my solution for me to REMEMBER TO SANITIZE the hands when I buckle them in the car: instead of drinks, the cup holders in the back door of the car (where little kids can't reach) hold hand sanitizer. That way I don't have to fumble through my purse to find the little bottle of hand sanitizer...there's big bottle right there reminding me to clean the children's hands.

Our previous vehicle was so old...how old was it?...it was so old that it didn't have any cupholders. So I stashed the hand sanitizer right behind/next to the carseat. There was a little pocket of space where the child couldn't reach, but a bottle of hand sanitizer would fit nicely.

For me, it had to be visible when I was buckling the kids in after a visit to [insert favorite germy outing here], or I would completely forget until I turned the engine on, and by that time--as already mentioned--it is ENTIRELY too late, because the thumb has already gone in the mouth and the germs are coursing through the body, determined to keep the child in bed for four days with fever, runny nose and aches, and to eventually spread to each member of the family.

This has worked for us to keep the number of illnesses down, I hope it works for you! Go to Shannon's site for more useful ideas and tips from bloggers across the universe...I mean across the globe.