Keep your family healthy this season - naturally!

September 🍁🌰 means that Cold & Flu season is here whether we like it or not! When the kids go back to school, they bring home all sorts of germs! I want to cover some natural, holistic and kid-safe ways to stay healthy this season!

1.) Getting plenty of sleep: This is number one in my book for kids, make sure they're getting plenty of sleep. School starting means homework, sports and other extracurricular activities are keeping them busy all day! Kids need to be getting at least 10 hours of sleep a day!

-Unplug from electronics: we personally have a rule of no electronics after dinner time.
-Bedtime stories: we have a routine of reading before bed for 20 minutes together.
-Chamomile tea: my kids LOVE to have chamomile tea with honey and (nut) milk before bed. Chamomile has been proven to help relax the body; It helps them wind down from the day and it tastes good!
-Diffuse essential oils: mandarin, vetiver & lavender are all good night time essential oils that are kid-safe to diffuse before bedtime. Plant Therapy also carries an amazing blend called Nighty Night that is a blend of oils great for night time. *safety: do not be diffusing essential oils in kids bedrooms with the door closed for long periods of time. I like to get diffusers (like this one) that have a timer or release in increments so that it isn't full blast. Make sure the room is well ventilated and diffuse for short amounts of time. Make sure to use only kid-safe essential oils. I love that Plant Therapy has a kid-safe line of essential oils.

2.) Immune support: It is important during prime cold/flu season that we have a strong immune system to fight off illness! There are many natural and holistic ways to help build your immune system.
-Elderberry syrup: Did you see my blog about how to make your OWN elderberry syrup? Check it out here. Elderberry is known to help boost your immune system and kids love it! You can even take it when you're sick to help get better quicker. (Babies under 1-year-old should not take it because there is honey in it)
-Diffuse essential oils: Plant Therapy has an amazing line of kid-safe essential oils. I love Immune Boom, which is a kid-safe blend of essential oils to help boost your immune system. Germ Destroyer is another good blend that helps when you are already sick and don't want to spread the germs. Here is a great Kids Wellness Sampler with 3 kid-safe essential oil blends all geared towards wellness!

-Vitamin C: Kids can take a Vitamin C supplement or eat foods rich in Vitamin C such as strawberries, broccoli & oranges. I love the Nordic brand of kids vitamins. (Nordic Naturals Vitamin C Gummies)

3.) Healthy Diet: Make sure kids are eating lots of fresh fruits & veggies and drinking lots of water. Avoid sugary and processed foods as much as possible, which tends to weaken the immune system. If your kids aren't super excited about healthy foods, there are lots of fun ways to hide healthy veggies in your kid's foods! Try adding spinach to yummy fruit smoothies! I also love to get the kids in the kitchen with me so they can help me cook! The Help Yourself Cookbook for Kids: 60 Easy Plant-Based Recipes Kids Can Make to Stay Healthy and Save the Earth is a fun kids cookbook we have and love with lots of easy, healthy, kid-approved recipes. When they make it, they are proud of it, and are more likely to eat it. You can also try starting a little garden with them so they can see where their food comes from! (Double score - gardening is also good stress-relief!)

4.) Stress-Relief: School can be majorly stressful these days with so much homework and extracurricular activities. Try some stress-relieving activities such as: yoga (check out this adorable book called, Good Night Yoga: A Pose-by-Pose Bedtime Story), meditation and breathing exercises. My kids recently starting getting into spin-art. It's very relaxing and mesmerizing. Such a simple tool to help relieve some of the pressure so many put on our young children. Gardening can be stress-relieving as well. Find what works for your children, and implement it! It can be as simple as going to the park to let them be kids! Stress and immune system are directly correlated, so making sure their stress levels stay low is important in keeping your children healthy.

Picture of my boys enjoying spin-art!

5.) Don't be so quick to medicate: Don't get me wrong, western medicine is great and I am so thankful for it, however, we are so quick to medicate our children, we don't let their bodies fight illness, so then their bodies don't know HOW to fight off illness. When they have a low-grade fever, sometimes it's best if we let their body fight instead of medicating with Tylenol immediately. Fevers are our bodies natural way to fight and get rid of the toxins. Antibiotics are overprescribed, most of the time they can't even help! Check out this article about Danger of Antibiotic Overuse! By taking antibiotics too frequently, we 1) kill off our bacteria, even the good bacteria and 2) make it less effective when we REALLY need it.
*If fever reaches too high, seek medical assistance! If fever persists, seek medical assistance! I am not a doctor.

6.) Don't use anti-bacterial hand soap 24/7. This is killing all the germs, even the good ones. Our body needs to learn how to fight off bacteria, and the anti-bacterial soaps are making it so our body doesn't know HOW to fight it off, so when it comes in contact with it, our body doesn't know how to fight it. Let kids play in dirt, let them get dirty and be kids! Of course, use your judgement as a parent! Here is a great article on Five Reasons Why You Should Probably Stop Using Antibacterial Soap from Smithsonian.com.

I love fall and enjoying all of the fun things associated with the change of seasons; We stay healthy naturally and holistically using these strategies! Stay healthy! 

Peace.