It’s that time of year when the common cold or flu is going around. I know in my house, my children and I have all had the cold/flu already and with our crazy weather (70 one day and 30 the next) I am sure we will see the darn cold bug again. With six of us and our animals times can get crazy when one or more of us is sick. I have started using these tips and tricks to keep our house running smoothly even when illness strikes.
Always have your children wash their hands. I know this is common knowledge, but you would not believe how many times I have had to tell my children (especially the younger ones) to wash their hands using soap and water or at least use a hand sanitizer. This holds true for the healthy (not sick) children as well as the children who are sick because it prevents germs from spreading. If you do not have hand sanitizer already, you may wish to stock up on it so you don’t have to make a special trip to the store after illness has hit your home.
I love cooking from scratch, so when I am stocking up for cold/flu season I will make a large batch of homemade chicken noodle soup and freeze it in single servings with freezer baggies. I use freezer baggies because they are space saving, and I don’t have a chest freezer. Be sure to include fresh vegetables in your chicken noodle soup to help replace essential vitamins you or your family member lose while being ill. You can find my homemade chicken noodle soup recipe here.
It’s important to keep sick children away from healthy children, but sometimes that is not as easy as it sounds – trust me I know! I have a stash of movies and books that I will break out when my children are sick. I allow my children to lie in their bed in the bedroom and watch movies or read a book (depending upon how sick they are and if they feel well enough to read.) When I store certain movies for “sick time” I have found that my children are more readily willing to lie in bed and watch them because they have not seen them in a while. I got this idea after I kept hearing “I don’t want to stay in my room and watch a movie, I have already seen that movie.” The light bulb went off (ha ha) and I fixed that issue. Now, my children are more than willing to stay in their rooms when they are sick.
If you have tips or tricks you use to keep your children occupied while they are ill, I would love to hear about them. Together we may be able to share our knowledge and help keep each other sane while dealing with sick kids.
Subscribe to our email newsletter, a must read for those of you who are trying to feed your family healthy meals in less time.
