4 Ways to Keep Your Children Healthy Throughout The Year {Children's Health Tips}

Keeping my kids healthy is extremely important to me. I'm a mom and a pediatric nurse nurse and I've seen a lot of sick kids. Keeping my kids healthy throughout the year prevents my kids from missing school, sitting in the E.R., urgent care, or doctors office for hours at a time, and it keeps them from catching something that could worsen and become life threatening. Who likes to see their kids sick anyways? I feel so sad when I see my babies sick.  I've composed four ways you can keep your children healthy throughout the year. I hope you find these tips helpful!

Sanitation & Cleanliness.

• Teaching your kids the importance of hand washing will keep your kids healthy and avoid them from catching germs and diseases that are spread onto surfaces. Hand washing is extremely important before eating any meals, after recess, after school, and right after playing in public areas.

• You also want teach your kids to not put their hands into their mouths and to not bite their nails because germs love to hibernate in nails. I'm in the process of teaching one of my kids to stop biting their nails. It's a HARD habit to break. I wish he'd never started it. Grrr....

• Teach your children to cough or sneeze onto their sleeve and not onto their hands. It has been proven that sneezing on your sleeve is more effective than sneezing into your hands. It prevents the spread of germs and it also avoid the spread of germs as well.

Vitamins & Healthy Eating.

• Make sure your kids are getting the right nutrients including vitamins to keep their immunity up. Vitamins also helps the body fight off germs. There are days when we’re not eating exactly like we should be eating. Fruits, vegetables, and vitamins ensure that your child is eating the right nutrients that protects their bodies from illness and disease. You might also want to add vitamin C and Zinc during cold and flu season. That will give them an extra boost of immunity during that time. Make sure you notify your doctor before following any vitamin regimen.  

• Extra Precautions: Avoid sharing food and drinks with friends. My boys have come home from school telling me that they've shared their lunches or vise versa with their friends. I'm normally okay with that, but now in days you never know who’s handling the food that your child may be eating. If they share their food, maybe you can add an extra item for them to give to their friends and maybe you can have your kids suggest that their friend do the same thing. Maybe something that is prepackaged and hasn’t been opened yet. Better be safe than sorry.

Well Checkups. 

• I personally agree with vaccines. No judgement to those that are against vaccines. As a pediatric nurse, I have seen kids get sick from diseases that vaccines could have prevented and I have also suffered along with my children when they've caught something that could have been prevented from a vaccine

Back when my oldest was younger and I wasn't a nurse they had a vaccine called PCV7. PCV7 prevented kids from getting SEVEN different forms of pneumonia. I avoided this vaccine because my son was always sick with the flu or pneumonia. Had I known what this vaccine would have done for him I would’ve have immunized him sooner. This vaccine could have prevented all those visits to the hospital! NOW the vaccine has upgraded to PCV13. That means 13 strains of pneumonia can be prevented!

• Make sure your children are up to date on their vaccines and are going to their routine well checkups. The flu shot wouldn't hurt either (during flu season). I spoke to a doctor once about my concern that flu shots may actually cause the flu. Here's what he said.....people that get sick right after they get a flu shot were already going to get sick. A virus can linger in your body for 5-7 days after you are exposed to the virus. It's just coincidence that you're getting sick right after the flu shot. Not only that, flu strains are always evolving. You could catch something that the flu vaccine does not cover, but you could also prevent specific strains that the flu shot protects you from. You'll never know! 

Staying Fit & Exercising.

• Staying fit and exercising keeps your children healthy. It's good physically and mentally. You can never go wrong with it! There are so many ways you can keep your kids fit and healthy. Sign them up for a sport, take them to the park, or go for a walk! Play interactive video games with them!

• Extra Precautions: Change their clothes as soon as they get home. I’m guilty of having my kids come home and keeping them in the same clothes that they left in. It might sound a little OCD to have them change, but if you think about it they are surrounded by tons of germs when they are in school or any public area. You never know who’s coughing or sneezing on them. Maybe even wiping their little snotty hands onto your kids clothes. Germs can stay on surfaces for up to two to three hours so changing their clothes as soon as they get home is an extra precaution for your children. 

I hope you find all my tips helpful in keeping your children healthy throughout the year! 

Molina Healthcare shares my dedication to raising healthy families, and their website features dozens of helpful articles about staying healthy, caring for health conditions, and being healthy at every stage in life. Visit Molina Healthcare for more tips on staying healthy and learning about what they can do for you!

Do you have any tips that you feel can help other parents keep their children healthy throughout the year? Please share in the comments  section below! 

All thoughts and opinions are my own. I do not work for the company mentioned in this post. My relationship is with GigaSavvy and have created this compensated original post in collaboration with them.Thanks for reading!