I’m worried about my child in child care. The headlines about H1N1 flu are alarming. There were school closing in some areas last spring — is that enough? Am I doing enough? Are you doing enough?

As parents, we instinctively want to protect our families. The headlines are scary and some may refer to locations close to where we live. Big questions about the health and safety of our families and ourselves are constantly in our minds these days.

Parents with children in child care and schools (or any group setting) have a right to be concerned and vigilant. But we shouldn’t be filled with anxiety if we see good hygiene practiced in child care and schools, if our family practices good hygiene ourselves, and if we teach our children good hygiene — three pretty big ifs.

Here are some useful highlights:

H1N1 Flu:

Good handwashing, as simple as that sounds, is still the best method of preventing the spread of illness, including H1N1 flu. And yet, good handwashing is also easy to forget or easy to rush through. Try singing a song together while washing hands, like the ABC song, to ensure that our children wash long enough. Everyone has to keep washing until the song is over. Twenty seconds is recommended and that may feel longer than we think. All the specific handwashing steps are on http://www.brighthorizons.com/growing/stayinghealthy/healthyhabits.aspx.

Another important skill for our young children to learn is to cover their mouth or nose when coughing or sneezing. If a tissue isn’t available, we can encourage our children to cough or sneeze into their elbow or upper sleeve and wash hands as soon after as possible. More tips are at http://www.brighthorizons.com/stayinghealthy/healthyhabis.aspx

We want to make sure that you know about the routine measures we have in place to prevent the spread of infections. Our Staying Healthy program is based on the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association guidelines.

Child care environments meet a much more rigorous standard for group and individual hygiene than school and other group settings for children — child care guidelines are based on those set by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association. Bright Horizons' Staying Healthy program and policies require that we regularly disinfect where children are diapered, eat, sleep, and play, as well as bathroom surfaces. Infant toys are also cleaned and disinfected daily. We teach children good hand-washing practices and ensure that children and staff take important precautions against the spread of germs. Adults and children are expected to wash their hands repeatedly during the day. We have also installed alcohol-based hand sanitizers throughout most centers for use by parents and teachers to supplement, not replace, frequent hand-washing.

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/general_info.htm