This September brought in all day everyday kindergarten in Tweed. It meant that my little baby would be away from me all day every day, tough pill to swallow. It also has been the worst year for germs that I have ever in my almost 18 year Maternal career. There has not been a single week that I have not had one or all of them home at least one day due to sickness.
From the beginning of November until now I have had constant kids home sick. We began the month of November with what we believe was Scarlet Fever (at least it had all of the symptoms of Scarlet Fever according to the numerous websites I consulted). The germ acted like a leech, sucking the health out of the child before it waited a couple of days in between each child catching it. There was not even a whole week of having well children before this week we all started with the stomach flu. I was actually wishing for death. I say this because Riley, Rowan, Christopher and I all had it at the exact same time. It is always awesome pouring drinks and emptying buckets (if you catch my drift) while you are holding one for yourself.
I was beginning to feel worried, worried about my children's immune systems. Then I began to speak to other parents, and to teachers. All assured me that they do not ever remember a year like this one for sickness. I asked our nurse practitioner this Monday (before all Hell broke loose) as I took Riley in to get her ears checked (that's right double ear infections). I asked "How do I boost their immune systems?". The best she could offer was multivitamins and lots of hand washing. She agreed with everyone else that I had spoken to, that this has been a terrible year for bugs.
So now I am left wondering what to do. Part of me says "Pull them out of school!" I am keeping them out of school until they have had a good few days of being well under their belts, but the whole year, I don't know about that. Maybe that will help their immune systems. I'm thinking multivitamins and lots of pro-biotic yogurt. Beyond that I'm at a complete loss. How do I safeguard them? I know that kids need to be exposed to dirt and germs to boost their immune systems. I know this, but at the same time I feel helpless. I expect a couple of colds a month, that is to be expected, but these bugs are more like the bubonic plague. After the 104 fevers, I understand why people can die from these things. If you had no one to look after you, to make sure that you were hydrated, to give you fever reducer, you could easily become seriously ill, even die.
There has been a lot of talk about our teachers going on strike. I hope they do, for no other reason than the fact that the school would be shut down. If the school was shut down, maybe these super bugs would not make the rounds quit so easily. I guess that what I am saying is that I am so sick and tired (literally) of my kids always being sick. I feel helpless to stop it. I can protect them from so many things, but I cannot protect them against things that I can't even see.
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