The Cold and Flu Season

We are smack-dab in the middle of the cold and flu season.  Isn’t it fun?  The coughs and runny noses.  The high fevers.  The chills.  The medications.  The rapid discharges …okay, that was just gross.  This year was the first year that I ever received a flu shot…at Walgreens…adjacent to the Halloween decorations.  Doctors will expound on things to do to prevent flu symptoms from beating you like narcs at a biker rally.  You have heard the pitch – drink plenty of water; maybe even eight glasses a day.  Great, that equates to triple that in bathroom visits.  Get plenty of rest.  What exactly is “plenty”?  If I sleep over four hours straight, I consider myself blessed.  Eat the right foods.  Brush your teeth.  Take probiotics.  These are not “professional” biotics.  They counteract the negative effects at the cellular level of antibiotics, which, of course, is the standard script from the docs at this time of the year. Man, why didn’t I buy stock in Lilly?  Anyway, these antibiotics temporarily make your symptoms subside, but they really tear you down. “Bio” meaning life and “Anti” meaning against. Thus, the need for probiotics.  My point is this – you need to prepare yourself to fight against the gazillions of germs that fly around school, your home, and basically every inch of the third rock from the sun.

We need to prepare ourselves for what we face daily.  The scary part is that sometimes we don’t know what that is.  Did you ever have a day where everything went as planned?  Really?  I have yet to experience that.  Sometimes you just never know what events will come across your doorway.  Sometimes, however; we do.  We know what the plan is for the long-term.  We also know what the daily plan is. If you are unsure about either of these, then we really need to talk.  Anyway, our job is to prepare kids.  Prepare them for the tasks of today while preparing them for what lies down the road.  Preparing an 11, 12, 13, or 14 year old to flourish not just this year, but when they are 21,22,23, 24, and decades later.  Don’t buy that?  Do you still add single digit numbers or did you stop in first grade?  Thanks. Game over.  We need to cover kids against letting the worst disease ever – a loss of hope.  We cannot let that happen.  School isn’t easy and probably shouldn’t be.  But, when a kid loses hope, well, all of the prescriptions in the world won’t cure it. Be the probiotic teacher!  Be the one that builds up that educational immune system.  Be the one to prevent a loss of hope.  Be the one that makes a difference.  Be the cure!