Protecting kids from colds and flus By: Eva Ramos Center Director Prime Time Early Learning Center

As cold and flu season approaches, the question on everyone’s mind is “how do I keep my child as healthy as possible?”  There is no 100% guarantee that the measures we take will prevent our children from becoming ill but they can reduce their chances by a great deal. 

Teaching children proper hygiene at an early age is the number one defense against germs.  Adopting healthy habits for kids can have concrete benefits.  Even if the benefits aren’t immediate, teaching healthy habits will ultimately pay off.  If children start learning healthy hygiene when they are young, they may not get sick as much when they are older.  It’s important that the habits you teach your child are age appropriate.  For example it’s pretty much impossible to teach a preschooler to stay away from a friend who is coughing.  So, start off with simple things that a young child will be able to remember.

Pediatricians stress that getting children into routines is the best way to get them to retain information.  Focus on what’s important with young children.  If you make the healthy practice part of their daily routine, it becomes so much easier.  When it comes to healthy practices for young children, hand washing is the most important.  Again to make it work it must be built in to their daily routine.  The most important times to wash hands are, before eating, after pottying or diapering, as soon as they come in the house from playing or school and before bed.  The key is consistency and teaching them the proper way to wash their hands.  Make sure that they are putting them under running warm water first then applying soap, lathering in between their fingers then rinsing off.  Hand washing should take at least 15 seconds.  A great way to ensure that your child is spending enough time washing their hands it to teach  them a simple song.  Many people sing “Happy Birthday” twice which is about 15-20 seconds.  Another important hygiene tip is teaching young kids to cough into their arm.  This minimizes the spread of germs that come out when coughing.  Remind children to use tissues as often as possible.  Again, this will help minimize the spread of germs.  Most importantly, teach by example.  Kids love to mimic their parents and older siblings.  So following healthy hygiene is important for everyone. 

The above steps will help all members of your family stay as healthy as possible.

Outdoor Fall Fun By: Eva Ramos Director Prime Time Early Learning Center

Heading outdoors is a great way to soak up this colorful season before the cold weather sets in.  A walk around your neighborhood, the park or the woods gives kids the opportunity to witness the changing landscape up close.  It’s also a great way to spend some quality family time together after a busy week of work and school.  There are also tons of learning experiences waiting for you outdoors.   Best of all, you don’t need to spend  money on outdoor fun.

Grab some jackets, water and snacks and head out the door.  You may also want to grab some bags to put all of the treasures you might find on your nature walk.  Once home, kids can use their finds as craft materials.  They can string acorns and sees pods and make necklaces.  They can also make leaf rubbings with all the leaves they collected.  All you have to do is put the leaf under a piece of paper and your child can rub the crayon over the top and like magic a leaf print will emerge.  They can also classify the leaves by shape, size and color.  Another fun project to make with all of their findings is an autumn place mat.  Just get a piece of construction paper have your child glue their favorite nature finds and cover it with contact paper.