Thoughtful Thursday

10 Tips for Staying Healthy

Don’t you just hate to be sick? There’s nothing worse than feeling awful and being a teacher; you are constantly on the go and can never sit down -which makes you feel even worse! I think one of the most difficult aspects of teaching is staying healthy enough to actually teach, especially in an early childhood classroom where germs can spread like wildfire. Below are ten tips for staying healthy.

1. Flu Shot - try to get one every year.
2. Lysol all tables, desks, surfaces, and door knobs daily.
3. Wipe telephone and computer keyboard with alcohol wipes weekly or after anyone else uses them.
4. Never use the same tissue box as the students, place a separate box of tissue in a location that is out of the student’s reach.
5. Teach students to cough in their elbows and not their hands.
6. Never use student pencils, crayons, or scissors; wear an apron and keep your own writing tools inside.
7. Never touch your face during the day at school, don’t rub your eyes, nose, scratch etc- it’s a hard habit to break but it is very important to your health.
8. Drink plenty of water daily; staying hydrated is crucial to your health.  Teachers can become dehydrated easily because we are constantly on the go and looking after lots of little people.
9. Wash your hands and arms up to your elbows as soon as you get home from school with hot water and plenty of soap. This will prevent you from bringing any germs home from school that might make family members sick.
10. Change your clothes when you get home so you don’t spread germs from school around your house.

Try these tips and Stay Healthy! I know I will!