Hey mamas, we’ve made it to mid-February! {internet high five, with non-coffee-holding hand} Here in the mid-Atlantic we’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the polar vortex recently. That’s always a treat. This week we’ve had pouring rain at 33-degrees on top of a snow/sleet mix. Have I ever mentioned that I’m not a winter person? Like, at all. Thankfully my girls and I are finding creative ways to enjoy the great indoors while it’s miserable outside. I can’t stop thinking how grateful I am that we ended up in this house with a dedicated art/homeschool room for messy play, and a huge carpeted basement for running, shouting, and gymnastics where the girls can burn some energy!
Besides cabin fever, one of the biggest challenges this time of year is keeping the family healthy! I know this is especially challenging for families with children in public school and daycare where germs seem to spread and multiply faster than Catholic bunnies {funny, but not funny}! While we are homeschoolers and don’t attend public school or daycare, we also aren’t completely unexposed. We’re with our public-schooled and daycare-attending family members every weekend in addition to having to go out in public to stores, etc. Some exposure to bacterial germs is healthy since it activates our immune systems to fight off those pathogens in our bodies, but this is NOT the case for viruses. Since viruses have so many strains and mutate all the time, it’s nearly impossible for our bodies to develop immunity to them. Ever wonder why you still catch colds no matter how many times in your life you’ve had them? That’s why.
So how does a mama keep the fam healthy through cold/flu/puke/germ season??
As with many things in life, the best offense is a good defense. We certainly can’t sanitize our entire homes or avoid contact with every germ in existence. What we can do is take some simple precautions to prevent infection, and prepare our bodies for the fight with good health and strength to resist infection when we do come in contact with those unavoidable germs.
Now, I’m gonna lay it out there for you and disclose that our illness-prevention practices were born from a traumatic bout with norovirus a few years ago {the primary germ I avoid like the actual plague}, so they may seem a little extreme to others. I am truly not a psychotic germophobe, I am a psychotic norophobe. I will do almost anything to avoid experiencing that virus again, for like 100 million reasons, but that’s a different post! That said, each family must determine their own level of willingness to risk it, and what measures are worth avoiding illness {or not} to them.
So with that, here are 6 things our family does to stay healthy in the winter:
1. Be informed.
You have to know your enemy to properly defend yourself, right? Understand how germs and viruses work. Be aware of how common illnesses like the cold, flu and norovirus are transmitted, how long they can survive on surfaces, and what products can kill them. Trust me, there’s a lot most people misunderstand or simply don’t know about germs! Some light Google searching is worth a thousand tissues… or trips to the toilet. I always share this incredibly informative website when the stomach virus ramps up every winter because so many people simply don’t understand how to prevent getting it or avoid spreading it to everyone they know. {Please, for yourself and everyone else, go check it out}
2. Hand hygiene.
We all know the most important way to prevent illness is to wash. your. hands. Yet there are still so many people- children AND adults- who do not! It’s astonishing, really. But because this is an unfortunate fact for those of us who like to stay well, I am a total stickler for hand washing with my family. We wash hands before eating and after using the bathroom, of course. But we also wash hands when we come in from being out in public places. This helps us not bring germs into our house. We also use a hand sanitizer called Zylast that is rated to kill norovirus {friendly heads up: most hand sanitizers do NOT kill it} and works for 6 hours after you apply it. I always apply ahead of time when I know our kids will be in contact with lots of other kids, like before ballet class or church or visiting friends.
3. Leave shoes & germs at the door.
This is so easy and takes literally three seconds. We always take our shoes off at the door. Shoes have been everywhere and walked through germs you don’t even want to think about. We leave them at the door to avoid tracking all that through our house. I started this practice from the time we first had a crawling baby. Although our youngest is almost 4 now, my kids still often play on the floor. Not to mention we walk on the floor, then sometimes sit with legs crossed or feet up on the couches. Who wants to think about all of those creepy germs from public places sitting beside you on the couch?!
4. Avoid super-germy places and things.
Ok… I know this sounds like crazy talk, but it can be done! Here me out…. Yes, it seems impossible to avoid germs. They’re literally everywhere, especially where children gather like schools and daycares. The kids may be exposed to something at school that their body is able to fight off, but if you double or triple their exposure through other means, then they probably won’t be as successful in avoiding infection. We do not visit people we know have been sick within a few days {make that a week if they’ve had a stomach bug, aka- Satan’s virus}. I don’t let my kids go into friends’ {neighbors} houses or have friends into our house during the winter months- outdoor play only. We don’t visit the library or use library books. I can only picture all the children sick in bed and their parents giving them a pile of library books to look at between trips to the bathroom. GAG. As an alternative we subscribe to an online children’s library for $5/month, which is easily less than what I always ended up paying in late fees! Win-win. We don’t go to any indoor playgrounds or bouncy house places. When possible, I send my husband to the store on his way home from work, or go myself when he gets home so I don’t have to take the children into stores. I also utilize grocery delivery service, which saves us a lot of time and germ exposure. {more on that in a later post!} We avoid public restrooms at all costs at any time of year. This doesn’t mean I make my kids hold it when they desperately need to go, just that we take care to go before leaving home and such. I also avoid taking my children into restaurants to eat because they inevitably can’t keep their hands off the seats/underside of the table, and they will always have to use the bathroom while we’re there. And lastly, we make our regular doctor appointments for spring time when flu and norovirus seasons are dying down so we’re not exposed to the germs everyone is seeing their doctors for over the winter. I fully own that some of this sounds extreme and my not be for everyone! However, we can’t catch the germs we don’t encounter, and none of the things we avoid are anything we’re desperately sad about missing out on, so it’s all good and worth it to stay healthy for us. Definitely pick and choose what things you’re willing to avoid in your own family’s quest for a healthier winter!
5. The right cleaning product.
No matter how hard we try, there will always be germs that come into our home. Since my primary concern is preventing a norovirus infection, when I clean my house I want to use a product that will kill norovirus. Just like hand sanitizers, most household cleaning products do NOT. Spoiler alert: Clorox wipes DON’T work against norovirus. Tell your friends. Please. You have to read labels carefully and if they don’t specifically list norovirus on the label, that product will not be effective against it. There are a few bottled cleaners that do work, and of course good old fashioned bleach. So for a while I cleaned my house with bleach solution every week. It was rough, y’all. I had to wear a face mask to dull the fumes, gloves to protect my skin, and clothes that I didn’t mind ruining… every. time. I cleaned my house. I was willing because I wanted to make sure I killed any stray viruses that could be waiting to strike. However, I hated the fumes that I knew myself and my family were breathing. I hated having to go back and clean up the nasty chemical residue left by the bleach that I didn’t want on my children’s skin. And I hated having to practically wear a hazmat suit to clean my house. PTL, I discovered a miracle product called Force of Nature. It’s a simple solution that, when activated, forms electrolyzed water. It is widely used in hospitals and can be used for eye and wound care. It’s safe to get on your face, on your clothes, in your mouth, on your skin, on food surfaces, on carpet, upholstery etc. and yet it still kills norovirus and just about any other pathogen. This is what I now use to clean my entire house. I wipe both my kitchen table and my toilets with it and it works amazingly on both. It’s well worth the initial investment, and much cheaper per bottle/ounce than typical household cleaners after that. If you’re into safe, effective cleaners that protect your family from germs, you can use this link to get $40 off your starter kit!
6. Prepare from the inside out.
Finally, in addition to combatting germs externally, we also fortify our bodies to defend against infection. Obviously eating a nutritious diet is the first step. Kids don’t always want to eat their veggies though, so I make sure they take a high-quality multivitamin with probiotics. Keeping lots of healthy bacteria in the belly is our body’s first line of defense against bad bacteria! We are also firm believers in the power of essential oils. We don’t use them in place of actual medicine when it’s needed, but we like to try to prevent the need for medicine when we can. Many essential oils are helpful for assisting your immune system. We like to apply these oils to our spine a few times per week when we’ve been exposed to lots of people or a place where germs are prevalent. Essential oils of course aren’t a magic bullet, but they’re one tool among many that can help us stay healthy when the germs are flying!
Germs and illness are a fact of life. There are no foolproof methods to protect ourselves from them 100%. We are going to catch them at some point, and it will suck. However, there are some simple things we can do to reduce our risks. The list above is my go-to arsenal of illness prevention, but there are certainly many other ways to stay healthy. Please share your favorites in a comment so we can all try them, too! In fact, the most effective way to defeat a virus is to prevent it from infecting another person {which is when it multiplies, shoots itself out of your body via one method or another, and then infects more people}. Knowledge, and prevention, are our superpower over them! Go forth, mamas, and spread knowledge… not germs!
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or a medical professional, just a mom trying to keep her fam healthy! This blog post is not intended to be taken as medical advice. Please see an actual medical doctor for all of your medical needs!
