Prevention for Children
Keeping Kids Cold-Safe in School
Classrooms and day care centers are ideal breeding grounds for epidemics of colds and flu. And there is nothing more disruptive than suddenly having to stay home from work for a week—and watch your child's cold spread throughout the family.
Preventive Strategies
Many parents worry that if their child gets cold, they will catch a cold. Studies indicate that getting cold or wet isn't an automatic invitation to infection. In fact, it is warm, stuffy rooms present the far greater threat.
Teach your children to wash their hands before eating, after trips to the bathroom, and after play that involves close contact with their peers. And urge them not to put their fingers in or near their mouths, without first washing up. This advice is especially important during cold and flu season, which runs from about November through March.
Protective Supplements
Since frequent hand washing is a lot to expect of any child, it makes sense
to build their internal defenses. Kids, even more than adults, rarely eat in
ways that will give them optimal amounts of all essential vitamins and minerals.
It is reasonable to give them a kid's multivitamin
supplement daily. Give your children plenty of oranges, potatoes and tomatoes
for vitamin C, or add enough extra vitamin
C to their multivitamin routine to provide 100-200 mg per day. Children
over ten can handle even more, say 200-500 mg per day—remember to see how
much is already in their multivitamin, and add to that until you reach an optimal
dose. Cut back the amount if they experience any hint of diarrhea or gas.
See references.