As any parent of young children can tell you, the winter period often comes with some increased instances of illness and germ spread. And while there are some cases both in the home and within child care centers where this sort of thing is unavoidable, there are also some basic steps that can be taken to reduce germ spread and keep illnesses at bay this winter.
At Smart Kids Development Center, we proudly offer some of the best child care programs around Salt Lake City and Taylorsville areas, including everything from infant and toddler services to preschool, kindergarten and more. Germ spread prevention is a regular topic for us throughout the year, and particularly during the winter – not only do we maintain robust sanitation practices around our facilities, but we also have a straightforward sickness attendance policy that’s easy for all parents to understand. As we enter the coldest parts of the year, this two-part blog series will cover a number of basic ways to limit germ spread and keep both children and parents healthy – part one will cover some of the precautions that quality child care programs like ours take, while part two will go over some basic at-home tips to also keep in mind.
One of the single most important elements to keeping germs at bay is having a consistent hand-washing policy. This starts with always having fresh soap and water available in standardized areas throughout the daycare, including restrooms, classrooms and other common areas.
From here, it’s vital for all caregivers to instruct children on proper hand washing techniques and remind them regularly – before meals, after using the restroom or playing outside, and in other relevant situations. For infants and toddlers who cannot yet wash their own hands, caregivers should do so for them with proper technique.
In addition to hand washing, Smart Kids Development Center also maintains strict sanitation practices around all areas of the facility. This includes regular cleaning of toys, tables, surfaces and more using safe disinfectants that are effective at killing germs while also being safe for children.
In addition, we take additional precautions during the winter months due to the increased risk of sickness – this includes more frequent cleaning and disinfecting, particularly around high-traffic areas and commonly-used items or surfaces.
For any infants or toddlers who are provided with breast milk, it’s vital to follow proper storage methods. This means using clean containers and ensuring all items remain refrigerated at the correct temperatures – not doing so can risk bacteria growth that can cause illness in children.
For other food items brought from home, it’s important for parents to properly label them with their child’s name and date for freshness. If any items are not properly stored or labeled, we will be unable to serve them for safety purposes.
In part two of our series, we’ll look at some at-home practices that parents can utilize to limit germ spread and keep their children healthy this winter. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Smart Kids Development Center for any questions about our programs or how we handle germ spread within them, or to learn about any of our services!