How Germs Travel

Germs love to take trips and travel though our bodies. Although you cannot see them, they travel on surfaces, toys, furniture and even people.

Here are some of germs favorite ways to travel:

1. Some germs like to see the world on your hands. After shaking hands with someone, wash your hands with soap and warm water as soon as it is convenient. Dry your hands completely with paper towels. Also, avoid touching food or putting your hands near your eyes or mouth until you have washed them well.

2. Other germs think they are expert swimmers. They like to travel on sponges and dishcloths or any other wet or moist item. It is safer to use a paper towel to dry a clean surface than a sponge or dishcloth. This way, you can pick up the germs with the paper towel and throw them away so no one else can get the germs.

3. Germs hang out in your nose and mouth. Always cover your nose and mouth with a disposable tissue or paper napkin when you sneeze or cough. This will help to throw the germs away and prevent others from getting sick. Also, don’t forget to wash your hands often when sneezing or coughing a lot.

4. Many germs love to travel from hands onto food, and because they are so small, you cannot see them. Washing your hands well before eating meals or snacks can help you avoid germs that can make you sick. It is especially important to wash your hands after going to the bathroom.

5. Germs even love to be carried around by your pets. This is especially true of lizards, turtles, but also of dogs, cats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs and birds. After you pet or play with pets, wash your hands with warm soapy water. Also, be sure to dry them completely with paper towels.

6. When in a foreign country, be polite and shake hands, just remember to wash your hands before eating (this is important human relations between countries).

Postage

Before making your trip, visit the local post office or http://www.usps.com to obtain a postal foreign exchange coupon for postage stamps in the Country you are visiting.

http://www.boxtops4education.com

Veggie Tales

Fleas and Ticks on Camels

The dromedary camel can have fleas and ticks, with both species holding the possibility to carry disease. These species include ticks like Hyalomma and Rhipicephalus and fleas like Vermipsylla alakurt. These species cause physical irritation. Other species are more dangerous to the dromedaries, like Cephalopsis titillator larvae, which can cause nervous disorders, brain compression, and death. A study conducted in Egypt focused on the number of fleas and ticks found on camels. Of the 2,545 ticks found, 1,491 were adults while 1,054 ticks were nymphs, or baby ticks. All nymphs and 95.6 percent of adults occurring on the camels were of the Hyalomma dromedarii species, with all other species being either a subspecies of H. marginatum or H. anatolicum excavatum. The number of ticks occurring on each camel numbered between 6 and 173.

Special Needs Referral & Consulting
Information and Education concerning matters of the
Blind, Disabled, Elderly, the Physically and Mentally Challenged
and Parents of Small Children - at home and abroad

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Youth Information Page

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” -Joshua 24:15

***Baby-Proofing checklist***

Before Baby reaches the crawling stages it is time to baby-proof the house. When they start crawling there is no more leaving them on the bed for a few minutes while you grab a quick shower, or propping them in the corner of the sofa while you make a bottle, they are on the move

According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 2.3 million children are accidentally injured every year through fires, choking, drowning, poisoning and falling, and more than 2,500 are killed. That’s pretty scary

1. Crawl around and take note of what’s at eye level. Note anything that would look enticing to a baby or toddler (including dust bunnies and crumbs) keeping an eye out for choking hazards - coins, paper clips, beads, or buttons
2. Hide or anchor dangling electrical cords
3. Relocate or remove unstable or rickety furniture
4. Secure pull cords to blinds and draperies high up on cleats so they are out of reach
5. Put houseplants out of reach and check to see if any are poisonous
6. Pad corners of tables that are within reach
7. Remove or shorten tablecloths that can be yanked down - bringing down objects on top, too
8. Replace open garbage pails for ones with a child-proof cover
9. Use stove guards to block access to knobs and hot surfaces
10. Cover outlets with safety plugs or block access with furniture
11. Install safety gates to block access to top and bottom of stairways
12. Use safety netting on decks and porches to block openings
13. Secure fireplaces with grates, and block access to gas keys
14. Block access to radiators and floor heaters
15. Relocate tall, unstable lamps behind furniture
16. Cover CD and DVD player buttons with a plastic guard
17. Distract baby by keeping one cabinet unlocked and filled with his toys and baby-safe items
18. Secure bookcases and any furniture that can topple to the wall with brackets
19. Install a toilet seat lock
20. Lock up all prescription and over the counter medications
21. Lock up hair dryer and any other small appliances within reach
22. Mark sliding glass doors with colorful stickers
23. Secure the changing pad to the table and start using the safety strap
24. Instruct visitors and guests to place their purses and belongings up high
25.Keep a close eye on baby around rocking chairs and gliders - both which can easily pinch fingers

And while you are at it, check the batteries in the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and examine all baby toys for unsafe ribbons, buttons, beads, or any other choking hazards

Packing for Children

When packing for Children it is impossible to be right on all the time, but considering you know how to keep things running smoothly at home, this should be no big challenge for you.

A quick easy method of packing for Children is gallon size, zipper bags. 1 days clothing in a baggie (socks, undies, shirt, pants, slip & dress). Make sure you have a minimum of 3 outfits, more if room permits. 3 outfits per person will give you one to wear, one to wash, and one packed. If there is a reasonable necessity of more clothing, by all means pack it, you can also pack an extra baggie in each bag, just for those times that getting to the restroom on time might not be feasible.

In this manner the Children can carry their own clothes in a backpack, just like Mom and Dad, and avoid charges for checked baggage, just be prepared to wash out by hand one set of clothing a night, in your motel room. If you will be going to an area where the temperature changes drastically at times, let the Children use their coats for pillows and thus have them available for leaving the warmth of the plane or other transport.

Airport checkpoints only allow a quart sized baggie for fluids, they do not specify a size for anything else. This sort of packing works wonders for most people, there are of course exceptions to every rule and this may not be the best packing method for all. However please keep in mind, if this packing is for you, you save checking fees at the airport, the Children are learning responsibility by carrying their own bags, and less items are apt to be lost in transport.

Scientific Matters

I have never known a pre-teen or teenager to turn this approach down, so give it a shot and see what happens.

To each Child over 10 years old, give them a writing tablet, pens or pencils, erasers, calculators, maps and itineraries. Their mission is to see how many miles they will be traveling on this trip, if it is flying it would be just for this flight (save the rest for another flight).

If you have to drive to the airport, make sure to include the milage there, and of course from airport to hotel, hotel to airport, and so on. Let them know that they are responsible for finding out how many miles in-between times also. (Driving around towns, cabs to the beach or bus rides to and from where ever, all of this counts).

You could ask the older ones to find out how the airlines calculate air miles or the cruise ship Captain how many nautical miles and how does that figure with land miles.

Sometimes this is not what they want to do and that is ok too, but it will keep them occupied for quite a spell. Feel free to dream up your own form of entertainment.

Tips and Tricks

Older Children sometimes are overwhelmed when they are asked to babysit the younger ones on a regular basis, so in making the vacation a little more exciting for them, ask them, instead, if they would be willing to teach, or be a mentor to the younger Children.

Often you will find this change in authority gives them to the power to do what is asked, without the burden of being told to babysit. Teenagers especially, like to have sophiscated "toys" (if you will) and the younger ones are always wanting to know what is it, how does it work, can I have it???

Does this sound familiar to you? Have the teen explain how it works, if it comes apart maybe they can give a demonstration or maybe just maybe, they will let the smaller Child hold it real careful like. :-)

If there is a game involved, maybe the older Child could explain the rules, and of course they could change the rules. Maybe there is a good book the teen likes to read, they could read it out loud to the others and maybe even get some of the surrounding people involved in the story and you could have a real relaxing moment or two.

The younger Children will eat up the attention, the older Children will puff up at the authority given to them and you get a few minutes to just sit back and enjoy. Younger Children like to fantasize, so they could be telling the teens their own stories.

Snack Baggies

When preparing for a trip of any length, any transport, try this. Baggies are wonderful items and so versatile. Cut up fruits and veggies and squeeze just a little lemon juice on them and put them in baggies, the zip lock kind, then zip them up and pack them with each person.

The baggie helps the food sweat so the lemon juice is more than what you started with. When the food is eaten the lemon juice gives them a boost of energy, also has good medicinal values for the heart, and has kept the food fresh for the trip.

As the baggies are emptied they are put back in the backpack or larger case they were packed in. If there is clean water available, adding a bit of water to the baggie and drinking the last bit of lemon juice will also benefit the person drinking, especially if they might be in a situation where people around are coughing or have signs of the flu or colds.

Baggies can be reused numerous times before having to throw them out, so keep them handy. When it does become time to dispose of them, make sure they end up in a trash recepticle as opposed to the ground.

Water Bottles

Plastic drinking bottles have become a real hazard in other Countries, and not all Countries recycle. However please keep in mind a rule of thumb - "Carry out- What you have carried in", in this manner you are making sure thay your water bottle did not fall into the ocean and got swallowed up by a hungry fish or left on the ground littering up another Country you have visited.

Some ways I have learned to reuse the plastic bottles until I could get to a trash recepticle are these:

Pencils and crayons fit nicely into a bottle and avoid broken crayons or pencil leads, also avoid getting stuck with a pencil.

Little boys who need the restroom right now, when it is occupied (always), can use the bottles for peeing in until it can be dumped. Please remember NOT to put the bottle in the airplane toilet. It can be washed out in the restroom sink, taking away the smell, just remember which one it is.

If drinks are served in cardboard containers and the recipient would like to savor the drink a while longer, simply use a clean water bottle and let the airline stewards take the cardboard away.

In like manner, drinks may be kept if at a restaurant or some place that you cannot take it with you, just reuse the water bottle.

If you will be at the ocean and would like to bring home some sand or small shells, use the water bottle. Remember that large amounts are not permitted to leave the Country. Also remember that the ocean carries live fish eggs and other organisms that if left in warm water, will hatch.

Wet Wipes

Children are impatient sources of energy, when they need to be cleaned up, there is no time to stand in line waiting for one bathroom to open up. I have found that carrying wet wipes in a sealable baggie is very important. Not only does it cut down on bad nerves, but it gets the job done fast.

If you pack an extra baggie with the wipes you always have a disposal place for the used wipes until you can get it in a trash recepticle.

In like manner if you carry a clean, wet wash cloth, in clean water from home, or other known safe supply, the Children can swab their mouths with a suck on the rag. A good thing to have in a pinch when you cannot get fresh water to drink.

Chuckie Bibs

This item is becoming very famous and is so easy to make. For those who have motion sickness or for babies who like to spit up a lot, here is the perfect bib to catch all of it and easy to make and easy to clean up.
By taking a normal tee shirt with or without sleeves, or a mans undershirt - sleeveless. Simply use the shirt for the pattern, using only the front. Attach oilcloth to the front of the shirt with the shiny side facing out, cut it long enough to fold up 1/3 length of the shirt for a catch-all pocket, use velcro to attach the bib around the neck.
When done right the slick sides will be together and can then be emptied into a toilet or garbage bag and cleaned. If you are traveling, wet wipes will come in handy here, using a gallon size baggie to dump the upchuck in and the wet wipes to clean it, throw away the baggie, upchuck and used wet wipes.
Oil cloth comes in many different patterns and plain, let the Children chose their own patterns or simply color their own patterns on the oil cloth. Check out these fabric stores and be prepared for the trip.

http://www.onlinefabricstore.net/household/table-coverings/tablecloth-fabric-oilcloth-fabric-and-flannel-backed-vinyl.htm?N=7596&gclid=CMuciM7Ej6wCFSoZQgodrV-amw
I shop here!
http://www.fashionfabricsonline.com/c/142/Oilcloth-Fabric?Page=1&seed=333
Has a different variety of fabrics

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