Sick of Winter

Well, we're in the heart of winter now and I, for one, am not loving it. I do like snow, and the crisp, cold air, but I don't like the accompanying illnesses that seem to occur spontaneously with large numbers of people having to spend more time indoors with one another. I am an admitted germophobe and run around with gallons of Purell, handwipes, and paper towels but no matter how hard I try, how many vitamins I take, I always get something during the winter months.

Of course, I have kids too, and they don't seem to try as hard as I would like to stay healthy. I grill them at the door - "Did you wash your hands?" when I get home from work and if they are arriving from somewhere when I am home, the first motherly loving words they hear are - "Wash your hands!". Add to that that I am a severe emetophobe and you have a wonderful recipe for stressed out winters and shrinking from crowds of possible would-be germ-spreaders.

While everyone I talk to is firm in their belief that washing hands is the best possible solution to the problem - it seems that not everyone is on board with that. I can't tell you how many times I have been in the ladies room with someone only to have them flush, open the stall, and walk out the door sans soap/water/towels. Have they thought about the "gifts" they are giving others? I guess not. So, while me and mine are getting excessively chapped hands from washing continuously, apparently there are others out there who haven't gotten the message on cleanliness. It's just gross. Perhaps I should check people's hands when I talk to them, if they look smooth, gleaming, glossy, and unchapped, I don't want to get anywhere near them. It would seem that good hand-skin in the winter is a giveaway of a person not pursuing personal cleanliness.

So, I spend my winters in a state of unbearable stress. All I need to hear is that someone barfed in school or on a bus and my antennae are up. Then I grill my kids - "How close were you?", "Did they go home from school?", "Did you wash your hands?", "If they are on the bus tomorrow, stay away from them" and so on and on. Last week there was an incident on a schoolbus on the way to a field trip that involved barfing and I saw my oldest punch the youngest not to say anything and then in the end it came out and they said they hadn't wanted to tell me because I would get "upset". I guess they know me too well.

I don't think I know any mother who looks forward to barfing kids. If this is so, then why do so many of them send their kids to school in an unfit state? I know kids get sick during school, but it does seem that a number of them are sent in not feeling well to begin with. As a mother who works, and who doesn't get sick time or personal time or vacation time or any time - if I'm not there I'm not paid period, I understand why mothers do this. What I don't understand is that they don't realize that they are foisting their situation off on me. If my kid gets sick from yours, then I am in your position only a few days later. I don't get to work or get paid. This is not a pleasing situation and shows a basic lack of empathy and understanding of others needs. Kids don't learn well if they have a fever and have their head on the desk. It is also a disruptive learning environment to have a classmate vomit in class. People are so politically correct about things which are unnecessary in order to spare others feelings but yet they cannot see how their actions effect their own children and others. If people are really as much "for the children" as they say, they should think about this whole sickness thing.

And yes, I know we are in a "down" economy and people are afraid to call in with sick children but really, can you job-hunt or do your job better when you are ill? The same applies to children in school. Besides that, if they get sick in school, you will have to leave work and get them anyway.

That being said, what I really want is for everyone to wash their hands - a study printed from the Boston Globe said that vigorous washing prevents up to 36% of cold viruses and 50% of stomach viruses. I'd rather wash my hands and take those odds but I still want to speak to those with beautiful hand-skin to see if we can get them on board. If, as Hillary Clinton says, it takes a village to raise a child then that same village can do its job to keep that child healthy. Common sense here folks.