#sickjustgotreal
Last week I was invited to participate in a #sickjustgotreal event in the city to learn about different and unavoidable "ew" moments where germs are at their fiercest. This interactive media event featured nationally recognized pediatric doctor, Dr. Nina Shapiro, and microbiologist Dr. Charles Gerba, who both shared their expertise on how germs exist beyond what meets the eye, and how to get kids back to being kids again when germs cause sick to get real.
I arrived to the event early and was greeted with an adorable array of kid-inspired foods and treats.
On the menu were: Chicken Tinga Tacos, mini-grilled cheese, short rib chocolate stout pop-tarts, oatmeal cookies with Chocolate-Milk shots, homemade chicken noodle soup (I wanted to steal all of these mini cans), citrus cured salmon with Herb Mustard & Micro Greens, and Refueling Banana and PB Pizzas.
The event started and we were walked through an interactive display of the germiest places. Did you know that the sun's ultraviolet light rays kill bacteria? Therefore, playground equipment in the shade will have more bacteria. Sandboxes are a germ's best friend (no surprise there), as well as the chains on swings, and the top of a slide where kids touch before they go down.
Our next location was the grocery store (where a blacklight lit up the germiest places of a grocery store - which was basically the whole place). Of course, shopping carts are a huge germ culprit - which is why I always use my trusty shopping cart cover!
We then were taken to the classroom. where we were schooled in germs. According to Dr. Shapiro, half of students don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. Even worse - desks often have MORE BACTERIA than a toilet seat!!! GROSS!!
Our last two stops were in a school nurse's office and finally, a doctor's office. We learned that kids will obviously come into contact with germs all year long, but the winter season (77%) is far and away the leader when it comes to school nurses seeing a spike in sickness as opposed to the Fall/back to school season (where sickness is only at about 20%)
After a short Q&A we were handed goodie bags full of Children and Infants Advil, Children's Robitussin and Children's Dimetapp.
I was glad to have the medicine on hand because I ended up needing the advil for Natalie this week. She had a fever Sunday into Monday and even though I live very close to a CVS, and thought I had a stocked medicine cabinet I still ran out of the meds I had, but I was able to grab the advil for her and her fever dramatically decreased. It must have been some weird 24 hour thing...I have no idea. But she was back to herself by nighttime.
I enjoyed this event very much and appreciated the opportunity to learn a little bit more about these medicines, and how I can try to prevent sickness in my home and for my child(ren). Though of course, the take-away is that sickness is pretty much unavoidable in some cases, no matter how hard you try. But by teaching your kids good hygiene and proper hand washing, you can at least decrease your chances of illness and hopefully have a few less #sickjustgotreal moments in your life!
Have you, or your little one, managed to avoid getting sick so far this winter? If so, good for you....now share your tips!
I arrived to the event early and was greeted with an adorable array of kid-inspired foods and treats.
On the menu were: Chicken Tinga Tacos, mini-grilled cheese, short rib chocolate stout pop-tarts, oatmeal cookies with Chocolate-Milk shots, homemade chicken noodle soup (I wanted to steal all of these mini cans), citrus cured salmon with Herb Mustard & Micro Greens, and Refueling Banana and PB Pizzas.
We then were taken to the classroom. where we were schooled in germs. According to Dr. Shapiro, half of students don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. Even worse - desks often have MORE BACTERIA than a toilet seat!!! GROSS!!
After a short Q&A we were handed goodie bags full of Children and Infants Advil, Children's Robitussin and Children's Dimetapp.
I enjoyed this event very much and appreciated the opportunity to learn a little bit more about these medicines, and how I can try to prevent sickness in my home and for my child(ren). Though of course, the take-away is that sickness is pretty much unavoidable in some cases, no matter how hard you try. But by teaching your kids good hygiene and proper hand washing, you can at least decrease your chances of illness and hopefully have a few less #sickjustgotreal moments in your life!
Have you, or your little one, managed to avoid getting sick so far this winter? If so, good for you....now share your tips!
That looks like such a cool event. We've just started potty training (Yay!) and as much as it takes patience I'm trying to teach Olivia to wash her hands every time she gets up from the potty, even if she just sat for a few minutes and didn't do anything, hoping that it will form a habit. I feel like I need to get better about having her wash hands before snack/meals too! We do it most of the time but if she's crying for goldfish, sometimes it's just easier to hand it over haha. Thanks for the info on these germy places :)
ReplyDeleteWe're in the midst of potty training over here too (I think next week I'm going to really tackle it hard core and try and get it to stick) but that's a very good point about the hand washing and something i"m trying to be consious about as well. Since I wipe her when she goes - I don't always think to have HER wash her hands too but you are of course right, teaching her to wash now every time she goes is setting her up automatically do it in the future. I too, don't always think about it before every meal and snack time, but now that she just had this fever these past few days, I'm realizing that I should be a little more diligent with it! Thanks for the input!
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