Ah Choo! Germs and Child Care

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Mar 12, 2001

Aack! I am so behind on my articles for Suite 101. I apologize. And not to whine, but as a lead in to this article, let me tell you why I did not produce an article in February and am just now working on one for March. I've been sick. First a cold, then an ear infection that would not give up, then another cold. Add several days here and there of just not feeling like myself. And finally a general lack of energy between actual illnesses as I either recovered or began the next one - it was hard to tell the difference sometimes - and suddenly several weeks have passed and no articles have been written.

I couldn't figure out why I was staying sick. I rarely get sick. It took a friend with a small child enrolled in child care to point out the obvious. I have been in 17 different child care classrooms in the past few months. And although I thought I was carefully avoiding any contact with germs, I am pretty sure this is why I stayed sick.

Face it, any group of individuals who spend long periods of time in an enclosed space, breathing the same air and touching the same objects, will pass germs from one to another. Oh dear, that not only sounds like child care, but most of the offices I've ever worked in. The difference is that in the office I never chewed on my pen during a meeting and then passed it around the table for everyone else to chew on too. But children explore with their hands and mouths, and then share their toys with other children. They sneeze and cough on tables, toys and teachers. Conscientious programs wash hands, clean surfaces and disinfect toys constantly to prevent as much disease as they can. The following web sites offer information for providers on how to create safe and healthy child care settings.

NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY IN CHILD CARE http://nrc.uchsc.edu

Providers and parents can read the National Health & Safety Performance Standards: Guidelines for Out-of-Home Child Care Programs. In addition to the guidelines they offer health and safety tips on a variety of topics from SIDS to sunburn.

HEALTHY CHILD CARE AMERICA http://nccic.org/hcca/index

Here you will find a list of contacts for individual state Healthy Child Care Campaigns and their newsletter.

While you depend on your provider to keep the spread of germs under control within the child care program, there are things you can do as a parent to help out and to keep the germs from coming home.