Laura Blankespoor is a nurse at Pella Regional Health Center. She’s also the mother of teenagers, so she has lots of experience with issues related to the health of children–particularly when it comes to helping them stay healthy so they can continute to learn at school. She made a number of great points during the interview.
Sleep is a big issue. Kids need a set time to go to bed, and perhaps a time before that when they should slow down. She notes that it is very important for them to start to go to bed earlier than they probably did in the summer, as they can’t learn when they are falling asleep at your desk.
For your teenagers with cell phones, you may need to have them turn in their phones so they are not texting and talking late into the night. Intermittent texting all night can be a real problem for teens–and they really need their sleep.
A good breakfast is a great start for a day. She suggest a meal that includes protein and fruit if possible. A balanced meal is the best meal. The kinds of snacks kids eat is also important. Food is fuel, and the kind of fuel kids put into their bodies helps determine how well they will learn. Good food and snacks will keep kids focused and energy levels up.
A very important thing that most of us don’t think about is the kind of backpack a kid has, and how much it weighs when loaded. Kids are growing, and too much weight or an out of balance backpack may hurt them. Kids should never carry more than 10-15% of their body weight. It’s also is advisable not to get backpacks on rollers (I made this mistake before!). They become problems on stairs, and in hallways packed with kids. Make sure that kids know to use both straps on a backpack so they are balanced, and buy a backpack with wide straps so they don’t cut into shoulders.
As students return to the more crowded conditions in school, expect more colds and flu. Use common sense. Go to the emergency room if there is an emergency–like problems breathing, loss of consciousness, or broken bones. Otherwise, go to the doctors office if there are a bad fever, ear pain, an inflamed throat that may need treatment.
Sniffles, cold and coughs constitute “gray areas,” where making the child stay home from school might keep them out for weeks or months, while other kids are at school with the sniffles, learning. A good rule of thumb is to never send a child to school if they have had active symptoms like vomiting or diarrhea in the past 24 hours. Never send your child to school unless they have been fever free or antibiotic free for 24 hours.
Use hand sanitizer! Cough into your elbow if you must! Wash hands regularly.
Use good judgment, for your child, but also for those they will come into contact with.
And remember, you are never alone. Your health care provider is always there to help.
The full interview is below. It’s well worth listening to.
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