You Can’t Out Clean a Kid

I’m not saying we should stop washing our hands, but can we all admit that children are disgusting regardless? The second they wash their hands, they put them in their mouths, up their noses, and all over your freshly washed clothes, couch, or face. They are disgusting.

My kids have hand, foot, and mouth, which is a virus and it is all over Monterey County right now. It is highly contagious and is mostly transferred through saliva. They say to wash hands more and often, which we do. As a high functioning anxious person I am on top of this and guess what—they still got it! Ahhhhhhhhhh, it’s so frustrating what little we have control over and humorous how much control we trick ourselves into believing we have.

The other day after a couple hours spent enclosed with dirty children in a trampoline fun zone, we were given matching water bottles as a parting gift. The next day both of my childcare wanted their new water bottles. I filled them up and within an hour they were drinking off of each others and mixing them up, even thought I wrote their names on it clear as day. Okay the names were written on the bottom, so not the most helpful. Then I added stickers to one of them and they fell off so the older one drank from it and said, “No this one doesn’t have stickers.”

24 hours later the oldest one was zonked out on the couch, with a fever, and a mouth blister. I knew right away what it was, but told myself it was just my anxiety. Two days later his rash spread. Then my daughters started on her face and hands. I shifted all my work around as a mostly stay at home mom with a part time business. Every time this happens I am reminded of why I don’t take on more work. Why I keep my schedule manageable even though often I feel capable of more, I know the looming sickness is on the way and can’t be avoided. If you’re a mom, you know what I’m talking about.

The best part is every doctor will tell you it’s just viral. It will last 7- 10 days and go away on it’s on. Just keep them comfortable.

Then you go into full on caregiver nurse mom mode and give everything you have for 2 weeks, maybe you get a week or two of healthy children and then a new virus enters your home through dirty kids hands because it doesn’t matter how much you wash their hands.

Kids are dirty.

Right now, my daughter has just crawled into my lap, picked her nose, and processed to destroy the chalk on the table by digging into it with her fingernails.

Now I’m off to dig various colors from under her nails before she eats it.

Too late.

She ate it before I finished that sentence.

To all the moms out there. I see you.

Love always,

Danielle Mallett