This giveaway is now over. The winner is Renee. Congrats!
As most moms, I'm ready for my kids to go back to school. It has been a long summer for most of us. However, did you know that nearly 22 million school days are lost each year due to the common cold? An even scarier statistic is that as many as 2 (aff).7 million bacteria are found per square inch on common school services. However, this school year, Seventh Generation is sharing tips from best-selling author and pediatrician, Dr. Alan Greene, to help parents protect their child´s health during back-to-school season. Dr. Greene suggests taking the following precautions:
Optimize the immune system
- Reap the benefits of probiotics like those found in yogurt. A recent study showed that children who received enough probiotics daily throughout the cold and flu season had a significant reduction in the number of illnesses they had and, when they did get sick, the symptoms were both milder and didn't last as long.
- Be sure your child is getting plenty of vitamin D from the sun, from food, or from a supplement.
- Build a strong foundation. Good food, good sleep, and good physical activity all help the immune system to flourish.
Be wise about reducing unnecessary exposure to harmful germs
- Teach children the key times to clean their hands in the classroom. The most important times include after sneezing, coughing or using the restroom, upon leaving “high-risk” places (recess, naptime, play stations) and before meals or snacks.
- Sixty percent of teachers surveyed said that they request that parents donate disinfecting wipes to the classroom. Seventh Generation´s disinfecting wipes kill 99.99% of germs* naturally using the active ingredient thyme, a component of thyme oil which is derived from the herb thyme.
- Stress the importance of not touching their eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.
- Demonstrate to your children how to cover their mouth and nose for every cough and sneeze. This simple maneuver has spectacular results in decreasing the spread of viruses and bacteria floating about the room, waiting to be inhaled.
*Refer to disinfecting product labels for full details
You can also check out Seventh Generation on Facebook and Twitter today! VisitSeventh Generation on Facebook orSeventh Generation on Twitter and “Like” or “Follow” the brand to keep up with the latest news from Seventh Generation.
Since I am such a fan of Seventh Generation, I have arranged for one lucky reader to receive a Seventh Generation”Back-to-School” kit that includes a Seventh Generation backpack, two canisters of Seventh Generation disinfecting wipes, disinfecting multi-surface spray cleaner, facial tissue and paper towels. Here's what you need to do:
Leave a comment and tell me your tips for keeping kids healthy and germ-free
Each of these gives you one additional entry:
1. Twitter about this contest. I’ve made it super easy by adding a tweet button up by the title of this post! You can do this daily — just leave me a comment letting me know.
2 (aff). Stumble this post and add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc. (1 entry for each social network).
3 (aff). Comment on any other post on this blog. (1 entry for each post). Let me know which posts you commented on.
4. Like this post on Facebook. (I've included a like button at the beginning and end of this post to make it super easy).
5. Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
6. Add this to any linky contest lists.
Each of these gives you 5 additional entries:
1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
2. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed
3 (aff). Add my badge to your sidebar (each blog gets your 5 additional entries):
If this isn't working, please let me know. For some reason, WordPress seems to be eating the code up when I post.
Each of these will give you 10 additional entries:
1. Sign up for my free newsletter!
2. Subscribe via Kindle for this blog!
This contest will end August 31st at 11:59 pm CST! Good Luck!
I received a prize pack from Seventh Generation and Blogspark. I donated the entire prize pack to my daughter's school.