Keeping The Kiddos Strong

With both parents having to work these days, getting a call from the childcare or school can be really dreaded at times. One will soon realize that a good portion of your personal leave may be utilized due to the sudden need to rush back to the childcare to pick up a child who may be under the weather, even though the government gives an additional 6 days of paid childcare leave. This is part and parcel of responsible parenthood.

(Extra leave for Dads, source: Channel Newsasia)

Haven’t you heard of horror stories of parents not picking up sick child from the childcare that later led to a pandemic of Hand Foot Mouth disease or what nots? To be fair, there may be reasons why the parents are unable to bring their child home, and not everyone has understanding bosses, but one must still be prepared in the event of any such unfortunate incidents. That is why there is the saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Not easy I must say.

(This is how we sleep together at night, making it hard to prevent spreading of nasty bugs sometimes)

The challenge for parents with multiple kiddos, is also to keep them from spreading the bugs between each other. Take our family for example, should one of them come down with a flu, we will have a higher chance of another kiddo catching the same bug. We surely know that keeping them separated will prevent this from happening, but that is easier said than done with 4 young kiddos in our tiny 3-room flat. Hence building a strong immunity is very important to the kiddos from the start. For me, I subscribe to the “expose them to every damn thing” ideology, let them build up their immune system and that had worked pretty well.

(Involving the kiddos in outdoor activities and keeping them engaged is always good!)

Our bodies are full of bacteria and other microbes, and it is nice to know that there is no way to escape from coming into contact with bacteria. And why some people succumb to diarrhea or stomach upset while others do not, even though they may have eaten from the same source, could simply be due to the ratio of good versus bad microorganisms in the digestive tracts. Many dairy products such as yogurt or cheese contains probiotics, the good bacteria that helps promote good digestion and offers protection from the bad bacteria. But to maintain a healthy level of probiotics, one will also need to keep them happy and fed with prebiotics, the food source for probiotics! Having said that, it is never easy to get sufficient naturally-occurring probiotics from food, hence it may be a good idea to take food with added probiotics and prebiotics! You can find out more about these bacteria here.

(I always love exposing the kiddos to nature, be it to the sandy beaches, muddy patches in the canals or into streams!)

Then you must have also heard all the fuss over organic food right? For me, I only know that organic food are way more expensive than normal food and that is what puts me off. However, as I delved deeper, I came to the realization that our food should all be grown as naturally as possible in the first place, just like how it was done way back! Humans got greedier and started mass-production, as well as turning to genetic modifications, antibiotics and chemicals to reduce casualties and improve yields. While food prices may be kept down because of these methods, we never really know how it will affect us humans in the long run, especially after noticing the ominous signs of diseases such as cancer getting commoner these days.

(Louie was barely 7 months of age when he had to go through the ordeal of getting on the drips)

As much as we try, there are times when things cannot be avoided, such as my youngest, Louie developing Kawasaki disease after coming back from Tokyo. The disease cannot be attributed directly to the family holiday but he could have avoided developing measles from another overseas trip many months later if we had remembered to bring him for his Mumps, Measles & Rubella (MMR) jab which was delayed due to the onset of Kawasaki.

(I overlooked his vaccination schedule and he ended up suffering again at 31 months)

I am sure as parents, we will always want the best for our child and would try our best to keep them away from harm, and I also try to keep the kiddos strong and happy to the best of my abilities, by bringing them for outdoor activities and reading the labels off the food we consume consciously. 

Note: This blog post is in collaboration with Friso. Kids learn from experiences whether big or small, good or bad. That’s why Friso provides the right nutrition for your child to be strong inside to take on challenges. For more information on Friso, follow them on their Website, Facebook or Instagram.