My baby girl had a slight runny nose recently. Just as she was about to leave for school, she rummaged through my cupboard where I place some first-aid stuff and fished out a cute face mask with Disney cartoon characters which grandma bought from Hong Kong Disneyland. She told me as a matter of factly that she did not want to spread her germs to her friends, thus had to wear the face mask. And she dutifully wore the face mask throughout the time she was in school for a good 4 hours. When I picked her up from school, the face mask was still on her face. Such a sweet and considerate little girl she was!
I am one who hates wearing face mask but had to wear a face mask for 24 hours a day for almost a week in the hospital when I was down with a bad throat infection and fever during Cassandra’s surgery 3 years ago. I will never forget how uncomfortable it was to be sleeping with a face mask on a hospital bed and until rashes broke up on my face!
Do you let your child wear a face mask to school when they are down with a cold?
Never a mask as #1) it doesn’t work for the tiny droplets which will still be spread via coughing/ sneezing. A mask will only stop the large droplets. A mask like the N95, if fitted properly, is more effective. However, to wear that for more than 30mins is almost unbearable. #2) it may target the child as being sick. Sadly, when my dtr was in elementary school, there was a child undergoing chemo and he had to wear a mask. We were also told that if any of the siblings(who are at home) of the school kids had anything contagious like mumps or chicken pox, we had to notify the school in order to protect the sick child. The more important point to stress in sickness prevention is handwashing. Even use of sanitizers vs soap and water. That is one of the most effective way of stopping the spread of infections.
Another important habit to break too, esp amongst little girls, is the sharing of hats/ barettes, hairclips, headbands etc. The culprit?? Head lice! I had the pleasure of my dtr being told at the hairdresser that she had head lice! Then a few mths later, she had a second bout!! No, there is no social stigma…lice like clean hair, honest! And every summer there will be kids with head lice. We swap stories all the time abt kids coming home with head lice! And we do not shave off all the hair, although it is effective. There are shampoos to use, and as well lots of laundry as in bedding/ towels/ soft stuffed toys/ clothes.
Chris, I do not really believe in face mask too but my little rascal insisted that she had to wear one, so that she wouldn’t spread her germs to her friends. I wash my hands all the time at home and make my kids do that too but in school, I know they don’t. They only ‘wet their hands’ briefly under the tap and this is as good as not washing at all. Even at home, they have a tendency to just ‘wet their hands’ and I have to make sure that they wash thoroughly b4 meal times.
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