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Last Updated on November 3, 2021
Taking your child to school comes with many benefits – they get to broaden their knowledge, make friends, and get a clearer understanding of the world around them. As a parent, one of the essential concerns you should focus on is your child’s health, especially when at school. You will not always be there to keep a close eye on what they consume, but you can embrace the points explained below to ensure your little champ stays healthy.
Create a Good Sleeping Plan
Getting a good night’s sleep is among the best ways to ensure your child stays healthy both in school and at home. As a parent, the responsibility of creating a helpful sleeping plan lies on your shoulders, especially if your child comes home from school in the evening. If the student boards in school, you should alert their teacher about the sleeping plan and emphasize why it is essential for your young one to stick to it. This is why many parents prefer day schools to boarding schools because they can ensure their children sleep well.
Offer a Healthy Breakfast
Before your child leaves for school, you should consider the possibility that the breakfast they take at home will be the only healthy meal they will consume that day. This has become apparent in public schools, which are more populated than private institutions. Providing healthy meals for such a high number of students can be challenging. That is why about 55% of parents who enroll their kids in public schools consider taking them to private institutions.
Give Them Healthy After-School Snacks
Today’s market is filled with all-natural snacks for your children, and some of them are pretty tasty. Therefore, your child can consume such snacks without compromising on quality and nutrition. The best way to give out these after-school snacks is by combining them with other food types to ensure your child consumes the necessary nutrients they need in their bodies. Of late, most schools have begun a program of offering such snacks to the learners. However, this has been more prevalent in private schools than in public learning facilities. For this reason, 5.8 million learners were admitted to private schools in 2019 as parents realized the health benefits that their young ones will enjoy there.
Stay Up to Date on Vaccinations
One of the best ways to maintain your child’s health and help them grow appropriately is by being updated on the essential vaccines. Many health conditions affect school-going children, but you can prevent most of them by ensuring your child gets the necessary jabs. It is crucial to talk to your pediatrician, who is better positioned to explain all the immunizations your child needs, especially the seasonal flu jab. Let such immunizations protect your loved one whenever you are not there to do it.
Teach Them About Proper Handwashing
Children enjoy touching things, especially when in the company of others and no parent is there to supervise them. Often, they forget to wash their hands after playing, visiting the toilet, or touching different surfaces. Germs, viruses, and bacteria mainly enter the human body through the mouth. In that case, regular and consistent handwashing is one of the effective ways that help your child avoid getting sick. Some years ago, washing hands was a common practice, mostly in private schools, which make up about 25% of all schools in the United States. Nevertheless, that has changed with time. Today, public learning institutions are also embracing handwashing to help maintain a healthy population of students. The best approach to this is teaching your kids how to wash their hands with water and soap for at least twenty seconds, the time it takes to sing the Happy Birthday song twice.
As a parent, your priority should be ensuring your child is healthy, whether in school or at home. The above-discussed tips are the best that can help you make that happen. Other basic needs, including housing and clothing, also contribute significantly to your child’s health. So, it would be wise also to consider them.
