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They learn through experience - both at home & at school/daycare.
Ex: One of my kids had a stomach virus come on him really fast while he was sitting at a table in the school cafeteria (K or 1st grade). He walked right over to a trashcan and threw up. A teacher saw him throw up and sent him straight to the clinic.
When the kids were at home sick with a stomach virus, I would tuck them into bed with a plastic trashcan to get sick in. Much, much easier than trying to get them to a bathroom on time.
My kids learned to cover their mouths/noses with the crook of their elbow when they coughed and sneezed at school. Much, much easier than trying to find a Kleenex in time and a good way to prevent germs from being spread to the other kids/staff.
I am talking about the non-fatal, pass in a few days kinds of ailments, that dont require a hospital, doctor, or expensive drug treatments or any drugs for that matter. The ones everyone gets as a kid, and even as adults. Eventually a kid has to learn to take care of himself.
They will, and they'll probably learn it from you...my kids have learned you starve a flu, and feed a cold...and that water is the best for what ails you...lottsa little things like if you're battling a fever, but still able to eat, eat salty potatoe chips, or if the fevers real high, just sponge the forehead occasionally with room temp water, not cold....if you cut yourself deep, don't use peroxide if at all possible, it kills the bad cells and the good ones as well, use alcohol instead...cold water on a burn etc etc these are all things your children would learn and remember as they are taught to them.
Way back in the Dark Ages when I was in third grade, we had a health textbook, written in narrative form about a family (which was a rather accident- and minor illness-prone family, come to think of it). I read through the entire book the first night I was allowed to take it home, much to my mother's dismay - she feared I'd be bored the rest of the year, I think.
The book, whose title I cannot recall, included simple stuff like dressing warmly on cold days, washing hands, eating well (avoiding too much candy - a brother got sick from pigging out, if I remember correctly), washing and bandaging skinned knees, going to the doctor for check-ups, and so on - nothing beyond the comprehension level of eight year olds, and certainly commendable things for young children to learn. This was just a couple of years after my class had been Polio Pioneers, but I don't recall any mention at all of polio, innoculations, vaccines, etc. in the book.
Despite the book's good intentions and content, it didn't prevent me (and many of my classmates) from catching the measles that year. I missed the entire American Indian unit, along with the Valentine party...
How would you teach your child to deal with the common everyday ailments like Diarrhea (ewww !!!), allergies, canker sores in the mouth, and physical injuries like cuts, mild sprains, bleeding noses etc?
When I was a kid, whenever I stayed home from school sick I'd curl up in a chair and read this book cover-to-cover, which freaked my mother out (she figured it would make me go all hardcore hypochondriac, but actually I just liked the charts. I was a very strange kid). That said, between that book and knowing how we were taken care of as kids/teens I knew exactly how to handle minor problems at home and I had a good idea of what things needed to be seen by a doctor and which didn't.
I'd recommend that book, or a similar resource, over the major internet resources (WebMD, Mayo Clinic) for kids because of the issue mentioned upthread -- internet symptom checkers can be really great, but they also include lots of "zebras" and can scare kids unnecessarily.
Let me ask, are their ways of developing the immune system in children? Like I dont know feed them a little bit of slightly spoiled food, so his immune system will have practice.
Let me ask, are their ways of developing the immune system in children? Like I dont know feed them a little bit of slightly spoiled food, so his immune system will have practice.
While I assume that this question is a bit of a joke, there are things you can do to build up your health.
Your first line of defense is to choose a healthy lifestyle. Following general good-health guidelines is the single best step you can take toward keeping your immune system strong and healthy. Every part of your body, including your immune system, functions better when protected from environmental assaults and bolstered by healthy-living strategies
Be skeptical.
Quote:
Many products on store shelves claim to boost or support immunity. But the concept of boosting immunity actually makes little sense scientifically. In fact, boosting the number of cells in your body — immune cells or others — is not necessarily a good thing. For example, athletes who engage in “blood doping” — pumping blood into their systems to boost their number of blood cells and enhance their performance — run the risk of strokes.
The only way I know is by example. A child shouldn't have to treat these himself, his parents doctor him/her....and that's hao they then know how to doctor their kids....
Let me ask, are their ways of developing the immune system in children? Like I dont know feed them a little bit of slightly spoiled food, so his immune system will have practice.
Please tell me you did not feed your child the eggplant roletini you left out overnight just to boost his/her immune system.
I helped boost DD's immune system by not keeping her slathered up in hand sanitizer and letting her play in the dirt. Feeding a child spoiled food can be very dangerous.
Like I dont know feed them a little bit of slightly spoiled food, so his immune system will have practice.
Slightly spoiled food? Nah. Save it all for yourself. Big dish of whatever it is that is making the fridge stink. (Nothing says taste treat like bad milk on Dad's big bowl of Rice Krispies. Be sure you have your family physician on speed dial.)
Stick the kiddies with the properly prepared and stored food and a well-balanced diet. They are not the NY Jets. Their immune systems don't need practice.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 11-22-2012 at 08:00 PM..
I've always read that children raised in households with pets have fewer allergies and health problems. And of course kids raised around smokers stay sick. I was constantly sick with colds, respiratory problems back in the day and I'm convinced it was because my mother was a chain smoker. Nobody "knew" about second hand smoke back then but it's only common sense.
Each kid is going to react differently to sickness. One dd had a spell last year of barfing for about 20 minutes. She handled it well, we stayed calm and comforting but her sister was freaking out.
I've had some major illnesses over the past few years and I tried to be calm and reassuring. last summer I had complete heart block and passed out several times and within 20 minutes I knew I would have to call an ambulance. Daddy was 4 hours out of town, of course. I explained to them about the gurney I would have to be on, the heavy equipment the men would bring into the house and to put up the 4 pets before they got here. Then I called DH and he was on his way home. The girls stayed at home calmly from noon till 6 p.m. and did very well. staying calm and giving as much info as possible is the answer.
BTW I had to get a pacemaker.
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