Your Back to School Cleaning Checklist
Those of you with children in elementary or high school know that sending your kids off to campus has always been like sending them to spend 8 hours in a petri dish. For all the good they get – from scholastics to socializing – they also are exposed to viruses and potential infections that they bring home to incubate.
Now, in a pandemic world, it’s more important than ever to welcome them home with cleaners that eradicate not only the cold and flu, but also more serious potential illnesses. Keeping your home clean today means keeping your family safe.
What’s Inside Is Stronger Than What’s Outside
In the past year, disinfectants like bleach wipes and disinfectant sprays have flown off the shelves. But as we have learned more and more from the CDC about how the Coronavirus spreads, we’ve learned the value of diligent daily cleaning to keep the pandemic at bay.
"The priority is to keep a decontaminated home environment because that's where we worry about the spread to older individuals who are definitely going to be at risk for more severe disease than kids," said Dr. Sandra Kesh, Deputy Medical Director and Infectious Disease Specialist at New York’s Westmed Medical Group.
So what does protecting your home look like? It starts with remember that anything your child brings home with her or him – from backpacks to art projects, pencils to calculators – could be contaminated. This isn’t alarmism, it’s just the new reality.
"At this point we don't think that surface contamination is really a major driver of spread, so doing this is being super cautious,” Dr Kesh said. “But I think if it's doable, it's not a bad idea to do it. Just consider that every time your child takes the backpack to school, everything the backpack contains is dirty. Because at school they're touching everything -- they're touching friends, shared surfaces and so it's very hard to keep things clean.”
Backpacks, School Supplies, and Lunch Boxes… Oh My!
Anything that kids touch throughout the day, and in particular anything that they touch in public spaces or that other kids might pass around, become potential causes for concern. Think about it: your child comes home from school and drops her backpack at the door, her lunch box in the kitchen, her shoes in her room. We’re not overstating to say that these are potential landmines for your family.
So what’s a mom or dad to do?
Set a Good Example
Your children watch you, see you, and copy you. This applies to many areas of life – from practicing kindness and equity to personal care – but in a pandemic world it’s more relevant than ever. Priorities like wearing masks and washing hands are more important than in years past, and you can set the stage for success by modeling good behavior across the board.
Raise Your Children’s Awareness
Teach your children that their actions, as well as their beliefs and values, have an impact on others. If you teach them not to go to school when they’re sick, early on, this can translate into a greater understanding of their potential impact on the world, for good or ill. And if they take small but meaningful actions like wearing a mask and staying home if they feel sick, they grow in their understanding of their ability to impact the world.
Clean, Sanitize, and Repeat
Create a new ritual for when your kids get home from school: clean the things they bring home. Surface contamination is the biggest carrier of viruses, but it’s so easy to keep surfaces clean with a bit of diligent attention. Clean your kids’ backpacks, shoes, and other school supplies the moment they come back into your home. If there’s a question of greater exposure, then go a step farther and disinfect.
At Infuse, we engineer cleaning products to be safer for your family and for the planet we share… because they remove germs rather than kill them. With our concentrate and microfiber clothes, germs disappear into the garbage can… so your family stays safe. They’re non-toxic and effective in sweeping harmful particles away, when harsh disinfectants aren’t necessary.
In short:
- Don’t be scared, be prepared
- Clean key surfaces like backpacks and shoes when your kids get home from school
- Avoid the daily use of harsh chemicals by cleaning with non-toxic Infuse products
- If your kid’s school has been exposed to the virus, follow CDC guidelines for how to disinfect surfaces properly and safely.
