Friday, June 4, 2010

Catching the Cold: Art of Parenting in taking care of your Child’s Health

It’s the monsoon season, and keeping your home clean of infection is one heck of a job! If you have 7 year old kid at your home, you could very well imagine what I mean. This is the time when kids of all ages get their noses running and visiting your doctor becomes a part-time job. Well you couldn’t avoid it, but you can do something to keep the cold at bay, literally!
One of the hotspots where your kid could get an infection is at her school! It will be no wonder when your little girl healthy in the morning, returns back with a red nose in the evening. She is infected, and its time for some action.
Visiting the doctor is the first thing we do as a responsible parent, but then this is not the only option! I don’t suggest you not to take your daughter to your doctor, but what I mean is that don’t make the visit too often. There are ways in which you can better take care of your child, apart from making a visit to your doctor.
I am not giving you the traditional advice to boil water. Rather I suggest you not to boil water. It is true that boiling water can kill germs, but your child shall miss the opportunity to develop her immunity if she is not exposed to less harmful germs in the monsoon water. Except for extreme cases, I suggest you not to boil the water. It could go long way in helping your kid develop a stronger immune system.
Second, it’s not necessary for you or your kid to complete the entire course of medication. Usually the medication course for such infection will be for 3 to 4 days. But if you think your kid’s health is improving, you may stop the medication course in between. I could hear you murmur about the development of multi-drug resistant germs, but hey stopping the medication a day before will do no harm. And as a matter of fact, I hate taking medicines (and who doesn’t?), and why trouble my kid to take one.
And finally the last thing you could do about your child getting an infection is to wait. It’s no joke when they say that visiting the doctor will cure you of a disease within a week, while not visiting, will take seven days to cure. So, wait – wait for your child’s immune system to fight against the disease.
At the same time, I like to demystify certain facts about cold and fever. Getting a high temperature is a good thing – it’s the nature’s way of increasing the temperature to kill the disease-causing germs. And if you find your kid with running noses – be happy about it! It means her immune system is working perfectly to remove the germs by causing a running nose. And another great myth – ice creams, I repeat, ice creams do not cause cold or fever.
And so, there you have it – the experience of a parent in taking care of his daughter suffering from a running nose. And did I say you that my daughter looks really cute when she gets a red nose?
Take care and take care of your cute daughter!

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