Children are more likely to get any type of infectious disease because children are less inhibited and more likely to no use caution when handling food, being around animals, and other people that carry disease. It is not only important to watch your children and make sure that they are taking the proper precautions to protect them, but to teach them what to stay away from.
First, and perhaps the most important, it is important to make sure that your children learn to wash their hands and they wash them often especially during cold and flu season. However, there are other times that your children need to wash their hands and it is up to make sure that they learn to practice these steps. They need to wash their hands after using the bathroom, before eating or preparing food, being around a sick person, blowing their nose or coughing, or after playing with their pet.
You also need to make sure that they are eating food that has been properly prepared. Children are probably not aware that hot foods are supposed to be hot and cold foods are supposed to be cold. So it is your duty to make sure that what they are eating has been properly stored. If you are teaching your children to cook and they enjoy cooking with you make sure that they know not to consume raw eggs even if cookie dough tastes good and they learn to cook meat until it done.
It is also important to remember that you, your child, and your pets need to be updated on all their vaccinations. If any of you have fallen ill, make sure that you take all your antibiotics. Just because you feel better and do not have any symptoms does not mean that the infection has left your body. You need to take the entire prescription to make sure that you are cured. And remember to never share pills with anyone else or try to self medicate with old prescriptions.