How to Avoid Bringing Germs Home from School

As a healthcare professional, you understand the importance of preventing the spread of illnesses and equipping your team to do the same. This doesn’t end at your facility--germs extend everywhere--even into your home.

School is back in session and that means germs are too.  The first thing you can do is equip your children with the tools and knowledge they need to help keep them, and everyone in the household, germ free.  

Share and follow these 12 tips with your family to help avoid the spread of illness and germs in your home:

1. If your child is sick, let them stay home from school.
2. Monitor school communications and consider allowing your child to miss school if there’s an illness going around.
3. Encourage fist bumps instead of handshakes.
4. Reinforce the importance of using hand sanitizer and/or washing hands.
   • Clip a small hand sanitizer bottle on your child’s backpack.
   • Wash hands before and after eating and after using the restroom.
   • Wash hands immediately when arriving home from school.
5. Encourage proper hygiene after physical activities like recess, PE, or sports.
   • Wear shower shoes in public showers.
   • Wash towels and gym clothes frequently.
   • Wipe down gym equipment in between uses.
6. Discourage sharing of personal items (like combs and makeup), as well as drinks, food, and gum.
7. Remind your child to cough and/or sneeze into the crook of their elbow rather than into their hands, and ensure they always have a supply of tissues.
8. Discourage your child from touching their face or mouth too often, especially with dirty hands.
9. Advise against taking food from communal food bowls (like a big candy bowl) where germs can linger.
10. Recommend using a paper towel to open restroom doors after washing hands.
11. Send your child to school with a reusable water bottle to avoid drinking fountains.
12. Regularly disinfect backpacks, the inside of lockers, and gym bags.

These tips can be utilized throughout the entire year, not just when school is in session.  Post it somewhere in your home to keep you and your family germ free!