Is your child’s school first-aid ready?

We list the basics you must check to ascertain if your child’s school has the tools to help children maintain good hygiene.

So your child is going back to school for a new term. It is a bittersweet feeling to watch your child grow up so quickly. But apart from your pride at watching them grow up, you are also worried about them catching various illness from other children. Young children are prone to sharing play time and love to be in close proximity to each other. This means that illness-causing germs and bacteria can spread very easily in a classroom environment.

Your child may be vaccinated for certain infections, so they may be better prepared to fight those. However, daily personal hygiene practices are most important when your child goes back to school. 

Check your child’s school for the following:

Soap dispensers. When your child goes back to school, visit the restroom with them and show them how to wash their hands using soap and water. This is very important for young children beginning school, or for those who are recovering from an illness. Explain how to soap and lather the hands and give them a thorough rinse, before drying their hands on a clean paper towel. If the school does not have liquid soap dispensers, suggest to the management that they provide the same.

A big box of tissues per class. Children can fall ill quite easily because they are in close proximity to each other in class. This means that if even one child has a cold or cough, there is high risk of the entire class falling ill by turns. You can help your child break this cycle of germ transmission by teaching them to sneeze or cough into tissues, and to throw their used tissues in the garbage bin. Do ask the teacher if there is a box of tissues provided per class. The school will be responsible enough to provide the same. If not, then you can pack tissues and a hand sanitiser in your child’s bag.

A garbage bin in the class and corridors. Children are often tempted to ball up their used tissues and throw them on the floor. Discourage this practice at home, and they will learn not to do it at school, either. Every classroom has a garbage bin, and your child must throw their used tissues in the bin.

A first aid kit with sufficient supplies. Every classroom must be equipped with a first aid kit. Children get cuts and grazes from falling or playing, or they may even develop fever at school. The kit must include bandages, gauze, disinfecting liquid, medicated tape, thermometer, spare tissues, cotton, scissors, sanitiser (for use by the person administering first aid), etc. If the classroom has a kit, check it to ascertain if the products are within their expiration date. If the classroom does not have a kit, you could prepare one for the class’s use. 

How to keep your kitchen spotlessly clean...

…and germ-free as well! This is a handy list for busy homemakers who want to ensure that their kitchens are 100% sanitised.

Try as you might, keeping your home, and particularly the kitchen, completely clean is really tough. You feel like you are on a constant war against water spots, dust, dirt and pests. You wipe down the kitchen every single day, you dust it often, and you don’t let a single cobweb settle. But still, you suspect that the kitchen is not as clean as it should be – and maybe it isn’t!

Why the kitchen should be germ free

The kitchen is the most important space in your house. It is where you cook for the family and serve food as well. You also do the dishes here. As such, the kitchen is a major wet area in the home, since you have a kitchen sink here, and there are frequent food and liquid spills as well.

But since the kitchen is warm and often humid, it attracts pests, mould and fungal growths. Germs and bacteria are instantly attracted to raw food, as also the splashes of purees, juices and other substances. They lurk on the cooking and serving surfaces, waiting to contaminate food and make you and your loved ones really sick.

Maintaining kitchen hygiene is a daily task – but it need not be a difficult one. Here’s how you can keep your kitchen clean and germ-free:

1 Wash your hands often: Your hands can touch contaminated surfaces, and then touch raw food and plates. Thus, they spread germs from one spot to another. Make it a point to wash your hands every couple of hours with antibacterial soap. Always wash your hands before and after preparing food, after doing the dishes, after visiting the restroom, and after cleaning the kitchen.

2 Mop up food spills immediately. You can be forgiven for spilling a little food in the kitchen, but be sure to clean it up at once. After wiping it, spritz some antibacterial spray on the spot so that germs are removed completely. Keep an antibacterial kitchen wipe handy for such spills.

3 Use disinfectant on the floors. This is most important for kitchen hygiene: the floors must be clean enough to sparkle. This means that not only must the floor be swept and mopped every day, they must also be treated with disinfectant cleaners mixed in clean water. The floor can get really dirty, and all bacterial growth must be removed with the best disinfectants.

4 Scrub the sink. The sink harbours a lot of grime and germs. Pour undiluted disinfectant down the drain and scrub the sink bowl with kitchen gel. Use an antibacterial wipe on the taps and sink sides.