Swine flu….no doubt you have heard this name. It is all over the local and national news. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the virus is infecting people and is spreading from person-to-person, and has sparked a growing outbreak of illness in the United States with an increasing number of cases being reported internationally as well. The CDC has done an excellent job releasing information on who is most at risk, safety tips and precautions. If you haven’t already, take a look at their website at www.cdc.gov and click on Swine Flu or it’s other name H1N1 Flu.

As an adult, it’s pretty easy to heed such healthy advice when it comes to an airborne illness. Things like washing hands or coughing into your sleeve or arm come to mind. Here’s where things get tricky. How do we pass along these precautions to our children? My publicist Terri has a young son, Brandon. As they were walking in a parking lot back to their car, she looked down and noticed that he had a fountain drink in his hand….one that she did not buy for him. Luckily, he had not taken a sip! When she asked him why he picked it up he simply said ‘he was thirsty and it was just sitting there.’ So what do you do? Children dine in their school cafeterias, snack at the ball field and eat with friends or with their parents in restaurants all the time. Is it an impossible dream that kids will think about health and food safety before letting their instincts take over?

Every year, a ‘mompreneur’ creates a great new gadget to help keep children germ free. You may have seen moms in the grocery store with a fabric seat that can be placed in the grocery cart where germs are known to hang out. Keeping young children healthy is a top priority for moms. Think of these three tips as a simple 1-2-3 game…the Hands, Mouth and Table Game to teach your children health habits that will help keep them well. Here’s where you need to get creative. Think about your children and the best way you think they would learn. Do they like to sing, make rap songs, count, rhyme, or dance? How can you take these three tips and make them fun and memorable?

First, Hands –Teach your children that before any food is touched or eaten hands must be either washed or a hand-sanitizer used. You can find very small bottles of hand sanitizers that easily attach to your child’s back pack, lunch box, gym bag or all of these. Cross contamination occurs all the time. This is when your child touches something like a computer mouse or a basketball or soccer ball and then picks up food without cleaning his or her hands. The germs on the ball transfer to the hands and then to the face/mouth of your child. Cleaning hands before food is touched or eaten cuts down on the chance of those germs making their way into the mouth.

Second, the Mouth – Before any food or drink enters the mouth, take a second to look at where it came from. Teach your children that if it’s not their food or drink, leave it alone.  If it’s on the ground, leave it alone. Also, it’s smart not to allow others to drink out of your child’s cup or eat off their sandwich. I know this idea may sound impossible but remember … kids touch their eyes, nose and mouth, then touch their drink or food and transfer germs to that drink or food and guess what happens next… your child gets sick.

Third, the Table- Desktops and keyboards are notorious for germs as are the bottom of back packs, lunch boxes and purses. When children eat snacks at their desk, teach them to eat on a napkin or plate or wipe the table or area with an antibiotic wipe first. It’s easy to imagine the germs on the lunchbox getting on the table and on to the food.

Remember 1-2-3….hands, mouth, and table. Make it a game. Think of ways to make it fun and memorable and develop great habits which work! Just think of the feeling of accomplishment when your child asks to go wash his or her hands before a meal—without being prompted.

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