Parents' zone
How can you help?
There are a number of ways that you can help your child to use a tissue correctly and learn good respiratory hygiene:
1) Ensure that there are always tissues handy around the house.
2) Send your child to school with a pocket pack of tissues. It’s also useful to have tissues in coat pockets and lunch boxes. Please check regularly that any used tissues are removed from these places.
3) Encourage your child to cover their coughs and sneezes and blow their nose properly: help them to practise this, ensuring that they blow their nose and don't just wipe it, that both nostrils are fully covered with an opened-out tissue and if possible that their mouth is closed.
4) Remind your child to throw away used tissues and to wash hands after nose-blowing or coughing/sneezing into a tissue. Show your child how to wash his/her hands properly using soap.
5) Talk about the Sneezesafe* programme and ask your child what they know about colds and cold germs. Explain how viruses are too small to see and can spread easily through the air and touch. It is also worth emphasising how flu can make some people very ill indeed.
6) Go through the Sneezesafe* stories and games together, helping your child to read the words and encouraging them to learn from the online games.
7) Reward good behaviour with words of praise or small treats. Good habits learned at a young age can provide a whole lifetime of health benefits!
