Like it or not your child, and your family, will be exposed to all kinds of lovely germs and viruses when your child heads off to preschool. For the most part this is good. This is how immune systems are built. That said, no one wants to be sick more than necessary and no one wants to bring home any serious illness - so what can you do?
First and foremost wash hands, wash hands, wash hands. Hopefully that is happening at school, but you can help keep germs away by having your preschoolers clean her hands when she gets in the car or gets home. Teach your child to take her time and make white gloves with soap and rub them off under running water before drying her hands. It’s so important. Preschooler’s fingers go in their mouths, eyes, noses, ears, and just about everywhere you don’t want them to put their fingers! If you want advice from the pros, here’s a good hand washing site with practical information https://www.partselect.com/JustForFun/Hand-Washing-For-Kids.aspx
Here are a couple of helpful tips for preschoolers. Teach your child to sneeze or cough into her elbow. That way the germs don’t fly all over everyone else and the germs are not on her hand. Germs are less likely to be spread as your child takes her friends hand or plays with toys. Also teach your child to use a tissue and throw it immediately away. At our school every room has a tissue box located right over the trash can…and yet, I’m still picking up dirty tissue on occasion…happily building up my immunity!
Your best defense is basic healthy life style. Make sure you and your child get enough sleep, healthy food, exercise, and time outdoors everyday. If your child is sick keep her home, she'll recover quicker and the other children and parents will thank you. Good luck, we are all in this together.