Keeping kids healthy
Author: By Jo Anna E. Shuba

As the school year approaches, parents and their kids anxiously stock up on back-to-school items such as fall clothes, pencils, rulers and notebooks.
But there’s a lot more to be thinking about as you prepare to kick off yet another school year: how to keep your kids healthy.

Wash those hands
“The number one reason kids get sick can usually by prevented by frequent hand washings,” says Dr. John Reed, a pediatrician and internist at Smithsburg (Md.) Family Medical Center. Doing so can help prevent colds, upper respiratory tract infections, pink eye, bronchitis and more, he says.
“Have your kids wash their hands before eating, after going to the bathroom and even after being outside or going shopping,” Reed says.
Melissa Stoner of Hagerstown couldn’t agree more.
“My son needed a liver transplant at just 2 months old, so we learned very early on the importance of washing hands,” Stoner says. “During this time, we were taught that hand washing is the No. 1 best thing we can do to protect our children from infection. We should all make it an important part of our daily routines.”

Eat healthfully and get exercise
Another concern for American children is obesity.
Reed notes that “this is an emerging health problem that will have significant impact down the road.”
What can parents do to keep their kids active and healthy?
• Limit screen time. This includes television, video games and the Internet. “The most screen time any school-age child should have is two hours maximum,” Reed says.
• Get your kids outside or doing something active. “The best way to do this is to involve them in a regular sports activity,” Reed says. Regular activity such as karate, ballet and intramural sports at school give children a healthy dose of activity. “My son plays lacrosse several days per week through school, and it makes me feel good to know he will get exercise regularly that way,” says Jennifer Rohe of Martinsburg, the mother of Derek, 10.
• Eat healthfully. “Healthy kids should eat pretty much the same things as healthy adults. All of us should be eating about every four hours, but snacks should include fruits and healthy foods instead of junk foods,” Reed says. Parents should limit the amount of carbohydrates, starches and fatty foods in children’s diets, he says. “The first step is eating healthy yourself,” he says. “Kids learn by example better than anything else.”
Reed points out that many children eat worse than parents think.
“Limit eating out, or if you do eat out regularly, oversee the kids’ menu choices,” he says. Parents don’t always realize the number of meals their children eat at concession stands at school sporting events.
“It doesn’t do the child much good to play a game of soccer and then end it by eating a cheeseburger and fries each night,” Reed says.

Take Precautions
The other basic advice Dr. Reed offers parents includes:
• Teach your children how to swim. Drowning is the fourth-leading cause of death for those younger than 19, according to www.kidcheck.com on the Web. Teach your kids how to swim or enroll them in swimming lessons.
• Wear bike helmets. According to the National Safety Council, each year nearly 500,000 people are injured while riding a bicycle. Head injuries cause about 85 percent of all bicycling fatalities, the Council says.
• Be careful around the school bus. Many injuries throughout the school year are the result of students pushing, shoving and engaging in horseplay around the school bus. Teach your children about this danger and to protect themselves around the school bus.
What else can you do to keep your kids healthy?
Reed suggests scheduling your children’s annual physicals prior to the school year ending to ensure your child will be seen in a timely manner, rather than calling the doctor’s office the day before school starts.

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