This post was sponsored by Lifebuoy and is about Germs at school and home.
I’ve asked myself this question many times… but the truth is GERMS are everywhere!
Most South African schools close today for the holidays. Can you believe it? The first term is already over!
While the holidays are a welcome break from the mundane day to day of work and school, this period also offers a moment to reflect on the health and hygiene issues faced by children at school during the term and gives us time to think about how best to resolve them.
Most of you know that I’m a neat freak but my kids are the opposite.
My son loves sand, insects, and dirt. And my daughter, well… she likes to get dirty when she feels like.
I mean, my son stuck his finger up a pig’s nose?!
My daughter attends a school that is all about nature and outdoor play. When she started, she used to get sick quite often. It was a very stressful time for me as a parent trying to figure out what to do, to try to prevent this!
As moms, there is nothing worse than seeing a child suffering unnecessary pain and illness, not to mention the cost and inconvenience of treatment.
Keeping kids healthy during school time is more difficult than during the holidays, but ultimately the same theory applies to both – prevention is better than cure.
THE FACT IS…
Washing hands with soap is one of the simplest and most affordable ways to help prevent the spread of germs that are responsible for causing infections.
GERMS ARE EVERYWHERE
Moms are always worried about germs, but the reality is that it’s impossible to stop kids from coming into contact with them.
We want to see our kids making the most of life at school and during the holidays – exploring their surroundings, making new friends, being active and creative – but as soon as they do this, they are exposed to germs.
Germs everywhere is not necessarily a bad thing. There are germs that can actually be of benefit to our children, by increasing their immunity or aiding in digestion.
Then there are the bad germs… the ones that cause infections and can be easily spread from one child to another.
Some of the contagious germs we need to protect against can lead to infections such as:
- Dysentery
- Diarrhoea
- Fever spots
- Body odour
- Flu
- Sore Throat
- Cough
- Ear infection
- Heat rash
WHERE DO KIDS FIND GERMS:
- Animals and insects
- Clothes and sponges
- Other children
- Contaminated food and water
- Dirty surfaces
- Dustbins
- Toilets and bathroom fittings
Children love to be active, especially when they are on holiday. But they are constantly being exposed to different types of germs and often get sweaty as a result of exertion. Even the germs that aren’t good or bad can cause a reaction, such as, bad odour.
CAN GERMS MAKE YOU SMELL BAD?
Sweat doesn’t actually cause body odour. Germs do. The germs feed on the sweat, which causes a chemical reaction that results in a bad smell. Moms with older kids, in particular, know the struggle of kids coming home smelling less than fresh after a busy day at school.
LIFEBUOY LEMON FRESH not only protects against 10 infection-causing germs but also protects against germs that cause bad odour. It only takes 1 drop of sweat to create bad odour, but bathing with Lifebuoy Lemon Fresh washes away the bacteria that feed off sweat as well as all the other ‘bad germs’ responsible for infections and illness, so your family is kept healthier and fresher.
Did you know?
It should take at least 20 seconds to wash your hands – any less and you may not have killed harmful bacteria.
About Lifebuoy
Lifebuoy is one of the oldest International Brands in the World. Established in 1894 by Lever Brothers, Lifebuoy is one of the Jewels in Unilever’s Crown. Lifebuoy’s 110-year-old core positioning is Championing Health and Hygiene. Lifebuoy’s handwashing with soap intervention programme has helped to save hundreds of lives in South Africa and is striving to achieve the Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG4) – to reduce child mortality rates by two-thirds by 2015.
15 comments
Great post with some good tips, interesting article. 🙂
I totally need to look for this brand in the store. It has been around for decades but I just never really see it. I hope they are making a comeback! Yes germs ARE everywhere – the first thing we all do when we enter the home is wash our hands!
It is SUPER important to teach kids to wash their hands thoroughly. They get into SO MUCH gross stuff.
I have been hammering the importance of hand washing into my kids from the time they were old enough to wash them. They get so dirty.
School is like one giant germ factory! I always make sure the kids wash their hands after school, and I send wipes with them in their lunch boxes.
We like to sing a song when we are washing our hands. It is a great way to get the kids to wash long enough.
School can be such a bad place for germs. We have been teaching the kids to wash their hands often. It is good to get the into the habit of avoiding touching their face all the time.
I’ll have to try this soap out. I’m a hands washer and believe in it which is partly because of me nursing college days and because I’ve found that it really does help cut down on germs.
It is so important to teach children to wash their hands all the time in school. Germs spread so easy, especially in elementary school. I’m going to have to share this soap with my kids teachers.
I think about germs all the time while my kids are at school. I make sure they know how important it is to wash their hands before eating.
I’ll have to try that brand, never seen it in the stores : ) It is very hard to keep children, let only anyone, from not touching germs… builds immunities when they DO get sick though. All you can do is wash your hands frequently.
I used to get too worked up worrying about the kids and the germs that they can get outside. It’s really important to teach them proper hygiene. This soap sounds amazing.
This is really something that parents should be concerned about. The kids will always end up playing outside and we can’t keep them in a bubble to prevent them from touching anything harmful. We can teach them to wash their hands and clean up afterwards though.
Our middle son has an auto-immune disorder. We try really hard but it’s not always easy at the schools to avoid it!
Germs are everywhere and I’ve taught my son to always wash his hands before he eats wherever he may be. Anyway, growing up, Lifebuoy was our soap at home. This made me nostalgic. 🙂