Food & recipes

Back to School: How do you keep them healthy?

By Janey Lee Grace

Janey Lee Grace, Natural Health’s family expert and imperfectly natural supermum, on keeping the kids healthy back at school

Janey Lee Grace, Natural Health’s family expert and imperfectly natural supermum, on keeping the kids healthy back at school
Back to school then, and after a long summer of late nights and children playing in their PJs till lunchtime I wonder how on earth I’ll rein in any kind of a routine.

Actually, in truth I’ve never had a routine. I’ve always looked on in envy at parents who announce calmly “time for bed” and their children toddle off with a hot milk and snuggle up. I’ve succumbed to all manner of nagging, bribing and cajoling especially during the summer months when, as the five-year-old smartly points out: “How can it be bedtime when Mr Sunshine is still out?”

I prefer to use the word ‘rhythm’ to describe the ideal way to structure the day; ‘routine’ for me is too regimental. Of course babies and young children need a consistent waking time, familiar surroundings and regular meals.

The ‘calming down’ before bed is especially important as I found to my detriment when I naively expected my third baby Rocky to just toddle off to bed happily on a light, hot summer’s night at 7pm, while his big brothers were still splashing in the paddling pool. We introduced more of a ‘rhythm’ to the day including a period of time when he would be away from the stimulation of the older boys, have one to one attention, a bathtime, some stories, gentle play and eventually he would be relaxed enough to go off to sleep.

The word rhythm feels more in tune with the earth and the rhythms of the moon too but despite waxing lyrical about moon tides, how can we encourage good habits which can keep our kids healthy and boost their immunity at a time when the snuffles and the coughs and colds are likely to kick in as they head back to school?

At the first signs of a cold, start taking echinacea – a few drops in water for the first few days of every month alongwith some vitamin C should do the trick. Try a tiny amount of crushed garlic disguised with honey, eaten directly from the spoon. Also remember the power of steam inhalation. For older kids get them to drape a towel over their head as they inhale from a bowl of hot water (about 12 inches away is good) with a couple of drops of tea tree oil or eucalyptus added to the water. For younger kids it’s great fun to make a ‘tent’ by draping towels over chairs and sit inside it, then you can carefully make sure the bowl of steaming water is safe.

Back on rhythm, when it comes to head lice (which may be your unwanted gift during the winter term), the trick is in the style of any good comedy – it’s in the timing.

Forget conventional preparations (some contain Deet, which can be highly toxic) and instead opt for a natural shampoo and lather on natural conditioner, but you’ll still need to follow a rhythm of regular combing to break the reproductive cycle. Use a special comb and do it thoroughly on days one, five, nine and 13. Make sure you complete the cycle even if there’s no more evidence of the nits as they may have just birthed little eggs too tiny for the human eye to see! Aargh I’m itching just thinking about it!

Janey loves…

• Melvita Capipoux, £15, 100 per cent natural treatment gel for head lice, from melvita.co.uk

• Weleda Herb and Honey Cough Elixir, £6.95, to banish tickly coughs, from weleda.co.uk

• Green People Foaming Hand Sanitizer, which is 95 per cent organic, £11.25, from greenpeople.com

• Multi Surface C leaner, £2.99, green cleaning made easy, from myeco2life.com

Janey Lee Grace is a speaker, workshop leader and the author of Look Great Naturally – Without Ditching The Lipstick (£8.99, Hay House). Visit janeyleegrace.com for more information.

Article by

Janey Lee Grace

is a holistic lifestyle expert. She is the author of Look Great Naturally – Without Ditching the Lipstick (£8.99, Hay House)

Article by

Janey Lee Grace

is a holistic lifestyle expert. She is the author of Look Great Naturally – Without Ditching the Lipstick (£8.99, Hay House)