Winter "Germies" with Boots!

I will write separately about our more personal experiences of being back at school but, for now, I'm writing along with Boots #backtoschool "Digit-ill" campaign on the serious subject of Germies!

Germs are really topical in our house at the moment because Katie has developed Emetophobia or the fear of being sick.  She is worried sick (pardon the pun) about being sick or seeing someone else (including the cats) be sick.  Before the end of year holidays she experienced a panic attack in school when another child was sick in class.  To be fair to her he was spectacularly sick and I think it might have challenged even iron-stomached old me to clean it up.  This was further compounded by a friend's child being sick during the holidays and we watched Katie's anxiety spiral out of control.  We seem to be reigning it back in again with lots of talk about germs and our bodies and the biology of being sick and how to reduce the risk of catching some of those nasty sicky germs in the first place.

Last year we got involved with the Boots Back to School campaign and we're delighted to do so again this year.  This year's theme is all about technology and how children are at risk of catching bugs and head lice from touching screens and standing in close proximity to each other whilst learning.  Katie was tasked with taking a "germie" of herself and I was tasked with painting her face to look like a scary germ.  Being artistically challenged I hope you will appreciate what a challenge this was for me.  I almost felt sick at the thought of being creative with face paints.

First of all though I would like to share some tips and information from Boots to help us poor parents who generally fear the dreaded head lice more than any other bug or insect.

Boots very kindly sent me a little package of goodies for getting involved in the campaign and I was interested to see that you can now buy an Electronic Lice Comb which might be a nice change from all those horrible chemicals.  I've had a Nitty Gritty comb sitting in the bathroom in case I ever noticed any movement in Katie's very long blonde hair but thankfully it's remained unemployed so far, which considering Katie has just started Year 2 is pretty good going.  I suspect she's benefited from my very tight French Plaits sprayed with lots of hair spray! I hope I haven't spoken too soon!

Children are using a lot more technology in the classroom nowadays.  Interactive white-boards and Ipads as well as keyboards and cameras are all regularly used and second nature to our little technological whizz-kids.  Children share pencils and other equipment and sneeze and drop bogies on classroom tables and chairs.  They rarely wash their hands when they use the toilet it would seem and they then fiddle with their faces and put their hands in their mouths and up their noses.  This makes the school classroom like a pleasure park for the average germ.  I once saw an experiment done in a classroom with a UV spray that highlighted all the places the children had touched and potentially picked up germs.  It was amazing to see how one germ could spread around an entire classroom.

The Top 5 Tips I would like to share for keeping those nits and other pesky germs at bay are:

Katie showing us her scary face!

1. Always encourage children to wash
their hands if they are using technology, especially afterwards;

2. Explain to children how germs get into their bodies i.e. through fingers in mouths and try and discourage them from fiddling with their faces.  This is easier said than done to be honest and I struggle not to fiddle!  It does make them more aware of how they can take better care of themselves though.

3. Wipe your touch screens and other technology with anti-bacterial wipes every so often.
 
4. If you have a girl with long hair always tie it back for school.  This is almost a religion in our household.  Katie gets to wear her hair down on the last day of term as a treat, whilst I keep my fingers tightly crossed that the little blighters don't take the opportunity to crawl in.

5. Spray hair (girls and boys) with Tea-Tree Oil.  You can buy shampoos and conditioners with it in as well but I'm a big fan of a few drops mixed in water and sprayed over the hair.  It might even prevent Kiss Chase if the smell is bad enough!

 I will just say though that I'm a big fan of letting children get mucky and don't try too hard to kill germs at home.  I give a spray with an anti-bacterial spray when cleaning but we have cats and they climb over everything and I will say that we are rarely ill in our house!

Here are some of Katie's other "Germie" pictures.  I did help her a little with these because of her attire but we did have great fun doing them.....

Katie's selfie "Germie"

  Katie showing some places she thinks the germs might hide........

Under her umbrella...

On the table......

Hiding in the bushes

What are your Top Tips for keeping children healthy over the winter? Take a minute and share your Top Tips for #bootsbacktoschool tips along with your "Germies" on Twitter using the hashtag above.


As always the views contained here are all my own.  Boots did kindly send me a lovely care package and I have shared their information but everything else is all me!