How to Prevent the Flu and Keep Your Family Safe and Healthy

Flu and cold season is upon us once again. It is easier to keep the germs away than it is to get rid of them once they are caught. There are some simple ways to help protect your family from these germs.

1. Children touch so many things with their hands. It can be very difficult to keep things out of the mouths of toddlers. If you teach your children to wash their hands at certain times, it quickly becomes habit. The most important times to wash is after going to the bathroom, anytime they come indoors, petting an animal, or playing outside, and it is very important to wash before eating.

2. There is more to washing than just putting some soap and water on our hands and rubbing. The full process should take at least 20 seconds of scrubbing with soap and water to kill the germs. Less than 20 seconds will not do the trick. Choose a song that the kids enjoy and have them sing it while they are washing. This will ensure the 20 second rule. Begin the habit while they are young and it will continue all their lives.

3. Keep a bottle of alcohol based hand sanitizer with you at all times. Especially for visits to playgrounds, mall food courts, and other places where there might not be a place to wash the germs off. Hand sanitizer only works if you use it on every part of the hand including under the nail.

4. Any time you prepare meat or poultry, you should always wash the cutting boards with hot, soapy water and spray counter tops with disinfectant. I also put bleach on my cutting board. The bacteria commonly found on raw meats, including salmonella, and E. coli, are more dangerous than any other germs you're likely to have in the house. They always require immediate attention to kill the germs.

5. You should always wash small cuts and scrapes with soap and water. Apply an antibacterial ointmentto prevent infection and to protect, put on a bandage, and change the bandage every day until the wound heals. This should not be a problem with small kids as they love to have Band-Aids on. You can purchase so many cool things on band aids these days.

6. Make sure your children are up to date on their shots or vaccinations. You could even a consider getting them a flu shot each year. A child who is in school and has been vaccinated against the flu is less likely to bring home a bug that can infect the entire family.

7. Spray all door knobs, phones including buttons, keyboards, light switches, sink and shower water handles, TV remotes as well as other things that are touched often, at least once a week. If someone is sick, you may want to do these things several times throughout the day.

8. Always clean the handle on shopping carts before touching them or putting a child in them. They harbor many germs. Many stores now have wipes by the carts to clean them. If they don't, you can purchase individually wrapped wipes to carry in your purse or pocket.

9. Don't forget to clean the steering wheel in the car if someone is sick. Many germs linger until they are removed.