Germs In The Home Environment
I thought I'd share an article I wrote a few years ago now for all you new and not-so-new mums ....
One of the first things I noticed with two young children running around my house was the grubby little black smudges that started to mysteriously appear, not just on walls, but on everything from the fridge to the TV screen.
In fact, nothing remained sacred for very long and things soon became pretty tacky for an unsuspecting and un-trained new Mum.
I twigged early, and soon became aware of a connection between the rising tide-line of those gooey hieroglyphs and the runny noses that inexplicably began to correspond to them. It was as if some hidden code were embedded within those funny little splodges, just waiting to be deciphered… and I was on the trail…
Guided by these new mystifying symbols, and armed with my trusty single-barrel spray disinfectant gun and a big wet cloth, I set off to find the hidden places where germs lurked: bug sleuth extraordinaire... It wasn’t long before I found their unseen playgrounds and the evolutionary missing link to those rebounding sniffles. One could say, I had found the writing on the wall, which shouldn’t have been a big surprise considering the amount of literature already available there…
It’s a fact that kids need plenty of encouragement to wash their hands regularly. Unfortunately, not much can be done whilst they are at school and you are not there to remind them to do so, BEFORE they eat their lunches. Thankfully, I found that help was at hand enabling me to turn our home-front into a fortress against the unseen microscopic meddlers, for keeps, simply by incorporating seven simple steps into my weekly routine.
1. HANDLES, BUTTONS and SWTICHES
Wipe the light switch (and the wall around it) and the door handle, progressing to every room in the house. Once you start, you will be amazed at how much clearer the house will be from all the other sticky spots, as well as those mysterious viruses.
While you’ve got your cloth handy, remember to wipe the fridge handle (especially underneath) and also the toilet flush button. Recent reports show that along with sink taps, these two are the most probable causes of virus infections in public places and still amongst the most commonly overlooked household virus banks too.
2. BRUSHES and BRISTLES...
If the family shares an electric toothbrush base with removable heads, don’t forget to wipe the common handle unit with your cloth, as well as the handle of any other children’s toothbrushes, as they rarely get washed but regularly get dribbled on. Hair brushes of course are not dribbled on, (well after a certain age they aren’t, hopefully), but never-the-less I found wiping the handles each week or two offered further protection. Better still make sure your kids are washing them once a week in the shower when they’re washing their hair… kids need chores. (This will also help control those other crawling pirates who hitch hike home from school from time to time).
3. TECHNOLOGY…
A huge microscopic playground… be sure to wipe all of the surfaces weekly, especially those little rodent mice usually on board your ‘ship.’ Pay special attention to keyboards and the controls of Play Stations and the games PC. Don’t forget the TV, DVD and VCR remote controls in the lounge-room too. The internet is littered with reports outlining the absolute microscopic breeding grounds that our new technology is providing. Apparently, these things alone can do more to support the viruses that plague the family for months, than all the other bacterial boot-camps around the house put together.
4. COMMUNICATIONS…
Telephones are another laboratory for many exotic micro-organisms, especially as the children grow older and start to call their friends. Unfortunately, thanks to the mini-germ farms found at school, your child’s immunity is generally stronger than yours and that ship-to-shore call can send you to bed with a sore throat, quicker than you can say “a-choo.”
5. LEDGES and SILLS…
For children and parents with low immunity to dust and allergens, be aware of the various sticky things placed upon window sills, (which end up resembling the ‘Moulds, Spores and Fungus’ section of the local CSIRO west wing). Don’t forget to use your big cloth to quickly wipe the windowsills, especially if you have pets in the house as well.
6. VACUUM THE BEDS…?
Talking about asthma, allergens and bugs, vacuuming the underlay and mattresses each week whilst they are stripped for changing can reap big rewards. Removing dead skin cells, dander and allergens from beds and lounges reduces the smorgasbord your microscopic zoo lives on. Starved of their food they either die or stop reproducing. I have seen children cured of rashes and allergies with this one simple step. Of course remember to throw the doona and blankets out into the sunshine once in a while too; you will possibly be killing a few dozen species right there.
7. THE TOYS…
Finally, don’t forget to throw plastic toys into the dishwasher once a fortnight. If you don’t have a dishwasher, just run a hot bath and make them walk the plank. Let them soak for an hour. Dry in the sun and put them back in a freshly disinfected toy box. Throw soft toys – especially teddy, in the washing machine every now and then too, particularly after a serious bought of flu has passed through the household.
There you have it in seven easy steps. No big deal. In fact in our house, Saturday mornings have become everybody’s day for housework, including my husband, who is now on vacuum patrol. No easy feat, let me tell you, but it spearheads the top of a unique weekly system that works something like this:
No one is allowed to do anything like watch TV, play video games or ‘goof off’ until Mum has mopped the floors. Mum cannot mop the floors until Dad has vacuumed them (and everything else mentioned). Dad, on the other hand, can’t finish the vacuuming until all the bedrooms have been picked up and tidied. (Naturally, if the rooms aren’t picked up and readied for vacuuming, pocket money doesn’t materialise either). But the best comes last (or first) as the case may be, in that before all this can take place, the dining table chairs must be up on the table, which of course is impossible until breakfast is finished… You get the picture.
One of the first things I noticed with two young children running around my house was the grubby little black smudges that started to mysteriously appear, not just on walls, but on everything from the fridge to the TV screen.
In fact, nothing remained sacred for very long and things soon became pretty tacky for an unsuspecting and un-trained new Mum.
I twigged early, and soon became aware of a connection between the rising tide-line of those gooey hieroglyphs and the runny noses that inexplicably began to correspond to them. It was as if some hidden code were embedded within those funny little splodges, just waiting to be deciphered… and I was on the trail…
Guided by these new mystifying symbols, and armed with my trusty single-barrel spray disinfectant gun and a big wet cloth, I set off to find the hidden places where germs lurked: bug sleuth extraordinaire... It wasn’t long before I found their unseen playgrounds and the evolutionary missing link to those rebounding sniffles. One could say, I had found the writing on the wall, which shouldn’t have been a big surprise considering the amount of literature already available there…
It’s a fact that kids need plenty of encouragement to wash their hands regularly. Unfortunately, not much can be done whilst they are at school and you are not there to remind them to do so, BEFORE they eat their lunches. Thankfully, I found that help was at hand enabling me to turn our home-front into a fortress against the unseen microscopic meddlers, for keeps, simply by incorporating seven simple steps into my weekly routine.
1. HANDLES, BUTTONS and SWTICHES
Wipe the light switch (and the wall around it) and the door handle, progressing to every room in the house. Once you start, you will be amazed at how much clearer the house will be from all the other sticky spots, as well as those mysterious viruses.
While you’ve got your cloth handy, remember to wipe the fridge handle (especially underneath) and also the toilet flush button. Recent reports show that along with sink taps, these two are the most probable causes of virus infections in public places and still amongst the most commonly overlooked household virus banks too.
2. BRUSHES and BRISTLES...
If the family shares an electric toothbrush base with removable heads, don’t forget to wipe the common handle unit with your cloth, as well as the handle of any other children’s toothbrushes, as they rarely get washed but regularly get dribbled on. Hair brushes of course are not dribbled on, (well after a certain age they aren’t, hopefully), but never-the-less I found wiping the handles each week or two offered further protection. Better still make sure your kids are washing them once a week in the shower when they’re washing their hair… kids need chores. (This will also help control those other crawling pirates who hitch hike home from school from time to time).
3. TECHNOLOGY…
A huge microscopic playground… be sure to wipe all of the surfaces weekly, especially those little rodent mice usually on board your ‘ship.’ Pay special attention to keyboards and the controls of Play Stations and the games PC. Don’t forget the TV, DVD and VCR remote controls in the lounge-room too. The internet is littered with reports outlining the absolute microscopic breeding grounds that our new technology is providing. Apparently, these things alone can do more to support the viruses that plague the family for months, than all the other bacterial boot-camps around the house put together.
4. COMMUNICATIONS…
Telephones are another laboratory for many exotic micro-organisms, especially as the children grow older and start to call their friends. Unfortunately, thanks to the mini-germ farms found at school, your child’s immunity is generally stronger than yours and that ship-to-shore call can send you to bed with a sore throat, quicker than you can say “a-choo.”
5. LEDGES and SILLS…
For children and parents with low immunity to dust and allergens, be aware of the various sticky things placed upon window sills, (which end up resembling the ‘Moulds, Spores and Fungus’ section of the local CSIRO west wing). Don’t forget to use your big cloth to quickly wipe the windowsills, especially if you have pets in the house as well.
6. VACUUM THE BEDS…?
Talking about asthma, allergens and bugs, vacuuming the underlay and mattresses each week whilst they are stripped for changing can reap big rewards. Removing dead skin cells, dander and allergens from beds and lounges reduces the smorgasbord your microscopic zoo lives on. Starved of their food they either die or stop reproducing. I have seen children cured of rashes and allergies with this one simple step. Of course remember to throw the doona and blankets out into the sunshine once in a while too; you will possibly be killing a few dozen species right there.
7. THE TOYS…
Finally, don’t forget to throw plastic toys into the dishwasher once a fortnight. If you don’t have a dishwasher, just run a hot bath and make them walk the plank. Let them soak for an hour. Dry in the sun and put them back in a freshly disinfected toy box. Throw soft toys – especially teddy, in the washing machine every now and then too, particularly after a serious bought of flu has passed through the household.
There you have it in seven easy steps. No big deal. In fact in our house, Saturday mornings have become everybody’s day for housework, including my husband, who is now on vacuum patrol. No easy feat, let me tell you, but it spearheads the top of a unique weekly system that works something like this:
No one is allowed to do anything like watch TV, play video games or ‘goof off’ until Mum has mopped the floors. Mum cannot mop the floors until Dad has vacuumed them (and everything else mentioned). Dad, on the other hand, can’t finish the vacuuming until all the bedrooms have been picked up and tidied. (Naturally, if the rooms aren’t picked up and readied for vacuuming, pocket money doesn’t materialise either). But the best comes last (or first) as the case may be, in that before all this can take place, the dining table chairs must be up on the table, which of course is impossible until breakfast is finished… You get the picture.
Philosophy Blog
It's like whenever I see a microscopic image of dust-mites and other bugs crawling around...
From The Home Front
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Esoteric Bookshop
Yes, know the feeling....however, i think it is better to know than to be ignorant of it. I was at first and was always in the doctor's surgery with the girls... picking up even more germs from the magazines.....
*lol*
I won't tell you what has been found on supermarket shopping trolley handles and public toilet door handles then... I think the message is clear... wash your hands often and make sure the children do too... I don't think that makes me obsessive compulsive, do you?
Lilla...