Daily Scoop

Snow Day Prepardness

It's a regular school-day but the white powdery stuff is falling hard and fast. This may be a thrilling thing for your child to see but what do you do when you still have to work while your child's school is cancelled?

1) If your child's school in cancelled, most likely the local high school is out too so make sure you have a teenager you trust on-call to watch your child for a few hours.

2) You can also have one of your stay-at-home-mom friends watch your child while you're at work.

3) Ask your boss if you can work at home.

4) Work half the day (if possible).

5) Make sure you have chains or cables for your car ready-to-grab.

6) Grab the jackets, snow pants, mittens, gloves and hats. Leave the snow necessities in a pile for you children to suit up in if they want to venture out in the snow with the babysitter.

Weekly Money Savings Tips: Home Heating

Believe it or not, every household loses heat during the winter which results in money lost. The graph at the right shows how we lose our heat. Take steps to prevent heat loss and save some money.

1) First, test your home for air tightness. On a windy day, carefully hold a lit incense stick or a smoke pen next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weatherstripping.

2) Seal the gaps. Leaky ducts can account for more than 20% of your heating bill. Use caulk or weather-strip gaskets around windows, attic doors, and baseboards. You can use foil tape around furnace ducts.

3) Clean your furnace. An annual maintenance routine can help your heating system run more efficiently. Vacuum dust and check for loose parts.

See here for more tips.

Wash 'Em

Remind your family about washing their hands regularly. Wash your hands: upon returning home from anywhere (especially from school or shopping), before you eat anything, after using the restroom, before brushing your teeth, before handling an infant or after tending to an ill person.

5 Things To Do In November

1) This month in Aviation History Month. Explore the famous pilots with your children at http://pbskids.org/wayback/flight/ or take them to the nearest flight museum.

2) If you haven't taken your children to the pumpkin patch yet this year, go this month! Many farms have tractor rides, pony rides, tractor-drawn train rides, a corn maze and of course, pumpkins galore!

3) Make a wreath from colorful leaves found on your lawn, or cut leaves out from construction paper.

4) Find funny-shaped gourds and decorate them to resemble animals.

5) Bake up some Raisin Gingerbread Cookies.

Weekly Parenting Tips: Silent Killers - Carbon Monoxide

Each year more than 500 people die in the U.S. from carbon monoxide poisoning. Protect your family by taking these simple precautions.

1) Get a carbon monoxide detector with a battery backup so it'll still work in a power outage.

2) Have your chimney flue professionally cleaned each year. Chimneys are difficult to maintain correctly so don't do it yourself.

3) Clean out snow from your car's exhaust before starting the car or better yet, park it inside if you have a garage.

4) Don't use your stove or oven as a way to heat up the house.

5) Never warm your car up in the garage, even if the door is open. Fumes can still seep into your house even if the garage door is open.

6) Don't use a generator inside your house.

Learn more about carbon monoxide poisoning and prevention here.

H1N1 & Your Family

To our parent-friends, here's the latest info we know of about the H1N1 vaccine.

The Health Dept is strongly recommending certain groups be vaccinated for influenza:

· Household members with infants under 6 months old.
· Children 6 months to 24 months old
· Children with health conditions that would put them at risk for severe influenza: asthma, diabetes, seizures, heart problems, CP, etc.
· Children who have parents with health conditions that put them at risk: Asthma, diabetes, etc.
· Pregnant women.

This vaccine is just another flu vaccine. It is made by the same companies, using the same techniques that have been used to create hundreds of millions of doses of flu vaccine. The only difference is the virus and they change the virus in the flu vaccines from year to year all the time. The best way to avoid the complications of influenza is to be vaccinated.

Kids under 10 years need 2 doses of H1N1 vaccine separated by 28 days. Kids under 2 years, or have an underlying medical condition including asthma cannot have the mist. Both nasal and injected versions are equally effective, if you actually catch the correct strain of h1n1 that your vaccine fights (in other words the strain doesn't mutate). Those under 2 years, those over 49 years, those with underlying medical conditions and those pregnant require the injected form. The nasal form contains a live, weakened H1N1 virus whereas the injected contains the killed version. If your child received the MMR, Varicella (chickenpox) or Seasonal FluMist vaccine within the past month, they must wait at least 28 days until they can get the H1N1Flumist.

In either case, your body goes into defense mode when the virus is introduced to the blood stream creating specific antibodies against the virus. We've heard the nasal form may be more effective because it creates immunity at the nasal passages which is where viruses are introduced in the open environment and how we get sick in the first place.

Our 2 local hospitals received 100 nasal doses each this week, but there are 2000 employees at one. Our family received the mist version 2 days ago so be persistent with your pediatrician's office making calls daily until they get it in.

Today Is: World Hand Washing Day

Remind your entire family about how important it is to wash your hands especially upon return from an outing or school. Rinsing your hands with water does not count as washing. Make sure to use anti-bacterial soap and rub hands together for at least 20 seconds. Rinse with warm water. Talk to your children about germs and how we get sick.

Wash 'Em

Remind your family about washing their hands regularly. Wash your hands: upon returning home from anywhere (especially from school or shopping), before you eat anything, after using the restroom, before brushing your teeth, before handling an infant or after tending to an ill person.

You Need To Stay Home Too

Don't just think about your kids. If you are ill, please take the day off to prevent the spread of infectious germs from your co-workers. If possible ask you boss if you can work from home.

Remember To Keep Them Home If They're Sick