Back to Sch-ewwww-l

As a mom, the beginning of the new school year brings out a lot of emotions: anticipation about who my boys’ new teachers will be; judgment about the new friends they might make (admit it, you do it); excitement that school starting means football season; and resignation that my baby boys are growing up too quickly. But there is another resounding emotion that the beginning of school elicits from me – dread. Consuming dread and anxiety about the little germ factories that the boys become after a week into the new school year.

 

Photo: Dimitry Rabkin, Flickr creative commons

Maybe one’s immune system instantly gets weaker after turning 40. Or, maybe someone was listening a couple of years ago when Taylor was projectile vomiting whilst crying, and simultaneously, nastiness was coming out of Harlan’s … south end zone … when I yelled, “Let me be the sick one. Give it all to me and spare my precious children!” Either way, since then I catch every stupid bug that my little Petri dishes bring home.

And this is not a theory. Harvard researchers matched hacking adults' visits to Boston-area emergency rooms with Census data for 55 ZIP codes. Flu-like symptoms struck first and worst in the ZIP codes that were home to the most kids. I live in Denver's Stapleton neighborhood, where we average about 10 kids for every house. We are like the mother ship for urgent care facilities and drug companies.

But really, common sense tells us that, if we take precautions, we can reduce the number of times that we, and those in our families, get sick. Of course, I don’t believe that for a minute. I am still convinced that I will get everything that goes around due to my deal with some higher power to spare my children. The sacrifices we mothers make. Nonetheless, I want to pass along some tips anyhow.

There are plenty of ways to pick up a bug, but there is also information online about how to protect your family (and yourself). The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has some helpful information about immunizations, and some illness prevention guidelines for schools and daycare centers. And the federal government has lots good  information about the flu.

So, happy back to school to you! May you have a year free of Kleenex stock-boosting nose blows and purple Dimetapp barf.