Preschool is a pretty tricky time. If you are a working parent, you might need a daycare, which means more hours with strangers. Unlike your home where you can control the environment for your little one, you cannot do so in a school or a daycare. The environment will be standard for all children. This is a reason why many children fall sick again and again after starting preschool, especially if they have a weak immune system. And that brings us to today’s topic of discussion. We thought it would be useful for our readers if we laid down a few ways to help your child be healthy and make the most of preschool.

Washing hands

According to almost all doctors across the world, unhygienic hands are one of the main ways of spreading bacteria. Therefore, teach your children to wash their hands every time they sit down to eat or use a restroom, or after wiping their nose or mouth. And this applies to adults as well. The school and daycare staff should be doing the same each time they feed a child, or change a diaper or use the restroom. You can stay back a bit at the school or daycare and see if this is being done. If not, please raise your concern to the head of the institution. As a parent, you have every right to do so.

Ensure your child is active

Exercise is good for everybody. This holds good for children too. There have been various studies on this subject that have shown that an active child has approximately 25% less chance of being down with cold and flu because of higher circulation of infection-fighting cells. To ensure that your child is active, take them to parks and play games with them. They are also great ways of bonding with your kid.

A nutritious diet

A healthy diet from an early age will go a long way in building up the health of your child. Unfortunately, thanks to smart advertising, children are enticed into junk food even before we realise it. But did you know, even coke has a ‘not recommended for children’ written in small letters on its labels? If really needed, you could prepare alternatives at home that look and feel like junk food, to help your child feel like they are not left out. Use YouTube to whip up interesting meals for your children. Let them be excited about what’s cooking at home.

Ensure plenty of sleep

A child’s brain matures as they sleep. This is a proven way of developing the pituitary gland functions. Ensure your child gets enough sleep every night. Sleep deprivations increase the chance of catching a cold manifold.

The mouth

Children have this uncanny habit of putting everything in their mouth. Teach your child that it is a bad habit. Teaching children what to put in the mouth and what not is a good way of ensuring overall well-being. While you don’t want your child to get contaminated, you should also ensure that your child is not doing spreading bacteria to others. Teach them to cover their mouth every time they cough or sneeze. And not with the palm of their hand but with the crook of their arm. Most importantly you should do the same yourself. Children learn a lot while watching.

Follow up on vaccinations

Ensure your child has all the necessary vaccinations as suggested by your doctors. Vaccinations are important in ensuring your child doesn’t fall ill unnecessarily. Vaccines have been found to be extremely effective in keeping a child healthy. Speak to your doctor to find out if it’s recommended for your child. As a parent, it is extremely important for you to know the sick policies of the school or daycare. You don’t want your child to play with a child who has a pink eye or is down with flu, and in turn, get infected. Therefore know what are the sick policies of the institution. You need to also follow the policy when your child is down with an illness. Following these simple things can go a long way in having a healthy kid. However, we want to say something more. It is good to be a protective parent. It is great to be worried about your child’s health. But one must not forget that childhood is the happiest moments of someone’s life. Soon, the burden of books will be upon your child and slowly the innocence will be gone. Therefore, don’t deprive the kids of their happy moments while protecting them. Let a child be a child. A happy child is a healthy child.