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Implement Healthy Habits for a Successful School Year

Did you know that 38 million school days each year are missed due to influenza alone[1]? When children miss school, they miss out on valuable social and educational moments. Teaching children healthy habits like proper hand washing at an early age has been shown to reduce student absenteeism and illnesses in families[2]. When kids practice healthy habits like proper cough and sneeze etiquette, they are less likely to spread germs around the classroom and less likely to bring them home.

That’s why the National Parent Teacher Association has teamed up with Lysol and the National Education Association (NEA) to spread the word about healthy habits, starting with changes you can make at home. You can implement healthy habits into your children’s routine in a few easy ways:

• Teach Proper Hand Washing Techniques: One of the most effective ways to help stop the spread of germs is washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water. To ensure children are washing for at least 20 seconds— the amount of time needed to kill and remove germs —encourage them to sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice while rubbing their hands together to keep track of time.

• Share Healthy Habits, Not Germs: Teaching healthy habits to your children at home can start a broader movement around keeping germs at bay. By demonstrating healthy habits at home, such as regular exercise, eating a balanced diet and disinfecting germ “hot spots” (especially light switches, door knobs and countertops), parents are encouraging children to share their knowledge with their peers. Those peers share with their friends and the cycle continues.

• Support Schools One Clean Surface at a Time: Lysol and Box Tops for Education have partnered to promote healthy habits and support schools across the U.S. by providing classroom disinfecting products eligible for Box Tops redemption. Encourage teachers to add Lysol Disinfecting Wipes, now eligible for Box Tops redemption, on their school supply lists to help kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses on commonly-touched surfaces around the classroom. It’s an item that both moms and teachers can proudly stand behind!

Visit Lysol.com/HealthyHabits for more information on the Healthy Habits Program.

Rory Tait is the marketing director at Lysol. He drives the Lysol Healthy Habits campaign, a program focused on educating parents across the country on the importance of healthy habits and good hygiene practices.

_{[1] CDC. “Vital Health and Statistics. Current Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, 1996.”; Published October 1999}

_{[2] Meadows, Emily, and Nicole Le Saux. “A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Rinse-Free Hand Sanitizers for Prevention of Illness-Related Absenteeism in Elementary School Children.” BMC Public Health. Published November 2004}