With the summer drawing to a close and the colder winter months coming up on the horizon, it’s time to start thinking about how to keep your family safe and healthy as cold and flu season are on the rise. While there are plenty of things you can do once your child comes down with a cold or the flu, it may be even more important to do all you can to prevent them from getting sick in the first place. So to help keep you from having to use the humidifier all winter long, here are three tips for keeping your kids healthy this cold and flu season.

Disinfect As Often As You Can

Colds and flu infect your body by being spread from other people. Their germs either get given to you and your kids directly or, in some cases, are simply placed on objects that you then use. According to BabyCenter.com, these viruses can live on surfaces for up to three hours, making it especially important to clean commonly used surfaces often. Try disinfecting things like table and countertops, light switches, door handles, phones and other objects a few times a day to keep the germs at bay. You can either use cleaning wipes, commercial chemicals, or homemade cleaning agents that typically aren’t as harmful to young children.

Maintain an Active Lifestyle

Although it’s cold and dark during the winter months, Parenting.com shares that being active during the winter, especially in the outdoors, is a great way to keep yourself healthy. Having a physically active and healthy body makes you better at fighting off germs and other bacteria that could make your kids susceptible to illness. Additionally, getting exposed to even 20 minutes of sunlight each day increases the amount of vitamin D in your body and keeps your energy levels up. Consider finding something your family can do together outside to make sure everyone stays as healthy as possible.

Keep Hands Clean

Kids are known for getting this hands in all kinds of sticky, dirty messes. Because of this, it’s vital that you stress to your kids the importance of keeping their hands clean during cold and flu season. DripDrop.com shares that when people wash their hands properly, they are 31 percent less likely to get these types of infections. Along with making sure your kids keep their hands clean, you should also remind them to keep their finger out of their eyes and mouth as well as away from their face to stop the spread of germs more fully.

Even with all your efforts to keep your kids safe and healthy during the winter months, it’s still possible for them to come down with a cold or the flu. But by following the tips mentioned above, you are doing all you can to keep your children as healthy and happy as you possibly can.

Originally posted on September 5, 2016 @ 7:04 pm