During the holiday season, family and friends visit one another from all over the world to celebrate this joyful time of year! But, for those with children – whether they be able-bodied or medically complex – how do parents ensure their children’s safety remains a priority with a constant flux of visitors in and outside of the home? In this blog, Keeping Children Healthy with Visiting Family, Team Select is going to share three ways parents can keep children healthy with visiting family.
- Take Additional Travel Precautions
One of the most important conversations you can have with family is discussing the importance of your children’s health and safety. Depending on your family’s lifestyle and medical needs, you can kindly ask your family to follow some of the below precautions before arriving at your home for the holidays:
- Wear a mask while traveling (planes, trains, boats, shared car rides)
- Wipe down all surfaces before resting (airport table side, restaurant table)
- Do not travel when sick or feeling ill
- Avoid touching hard surfaces
- Limit exposure to large crowds
We know that keeping children healthy is every parent’s priority. Asking visitors to take the above travel precautions only expands on the idea of keeping children healthy during the holiday season!
- Wash Your Hands
While this seems to be a simple task, washing your hands is very important to keep germs off your hands, and in turn, off surfaces and loved ones.
“Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use the cleanest water possible, for example from an improved source. *If soap and water are not available use an alcohol-based hand rub that contains at least 60% alcohol.” – CDC
Some may argue that keeping children healthy with visiting family begins and ends at the sink.
- Happy Home, Happy Family
While asking others to take travel precautions and encouraging all to wash their hands, there are still a few more things you can do to keep children healthy with visiting family.
One example of this could be asking everyone to take their shoes off as they enter the home, or if they need to wear shoes, to apply a shoe cover to keep all of the outside dirt, germs, and grime out of the home.
Air quality is also important to keep in mind. One way to keep the air quality in your home in excellent condition is by keeping the floors clean, controlling humidity in the home, and asking visitors to limit their use of perfume.
Perfumes can also cause irritation to your children, such as headaches, and eye, nose, and throat irritation.
While there is no one right answer for every family and environment, we help with these tips for your family can help provide you with peace of mind and tangible action items to take to ensure the health and safety of your children are being kept top of mind while celebrating the holidays with visiting loved ones!
