Recently, as part of my job as a school librarian, I participated in a lock-down drill with a class of fourth-graders. Such drills are, unfortunately, a fact of life for students. We turned off the lights, locked the door, and hid in the narrow space between two book cases.
Since I knew it was practice, I wasn’t nervous--about the danger of an active shooter. But I was concerned about hunkering down in close quarters with 10-year-olds during flu season. Imagine the germs!
No, I take that back. Don’t go there. I did visualize the bacteria and viruses swirling around me. It was not a pretty sight.
I hunkered down at the end of the line. If we were in a truly dangerous situation, I would get in closer. After all, catching a cold would be the least of my worries at that point.
Education is my second career. When I started working in a middle school library at age 34, I had no immunity to kid germs. I’d been a journalist since I graduated college. So, during Christmas vacation, I developed the worst case of the flu I’d ever had. (I have since experienced an even more severe bout, but I think I was weakened due to stress.) Luckily, my mother had come up from Massachusetts to visit that first time around; she ended up taking care of me. We had to set up a cot for me in the upstairs room we call the library, as Mom was in the guest room. All I could read were Agatha Christie novels--or should I say, reread.
I have made sure to get a flu shot every year since. But as we all know, it doesn’t always work. And even the precautions of vigilant handwashing and extra vitamin C don’t always ward off the common cold.
Especially since children will be children. Recently, a kindergartener at one of the school libraries I supervise sneezed violently. He did so appropriately--that is, into his sleeve.
Unfortunately, he was then not able to remove his sleeve from his nose. Or maybe I should say fortunately, because if he had, germs would have certainly landed--um, exploded-- on me. For some reason, there were no tissues available in the library, so I escorted him to the office, where he took care of business. And then, to my delight, he went into the nurse’s office and washed his hands without being told.
That adventure ended happily, but I can’t help but feel I’m surrounded by potential sickness. Although they are repeatedly told to sneeze and cough into their sleeves, not all children do. There was the first-grader who, during story time, repeatedly coughed into the air. And the third-grader who sneezed into her hand. It’s scary.
Students are directed to notice where the wall-mounted hand-sanitizer dispensers are located when they come to their school library for the first time each year. But usually they have to be told to use them, after a sneezing incident.
The school nurses put out the word when sickness is running through a building. I read these messages with trepidation, but I want to be informed. Usually it is flu, strep throat or hand-foot-and-mouth disease. They advise wiping down surfaces, but it’s impossible to disinfect the pages of a book. That is a horrible thought.
Each age level poses a different threat. High school students tend to keep their distance, except in the hallways, where they move in herds. It’s hard to avoid them, and if they are taller than you, they are breathing down on your head.
Middle school students like to lean over the circulation desk. “It’s not a cold, it’s just allergies,” they like to say.
Of course, the greatest menaces are the five to eight year olds. They sometimes want to hug you!
Adults are usually better at hygiene (they should be!) but there are always a few who insist on coming in even though they’re running a fever and are barely able to talk. Really, it’s better to stay home when you’re sick.
In addition to illness, children often carry lice, and, sometimes, bedbugs. The former is mostly an elementary problem, although issues in middle school are not unknown. One day I was out on an organized walk with a group of students. I was holding the hand of a kindergartener, and he was babbling away as children that age are prone to do. I was only half paying attention to him, as we were languishing behind the rest of the group and I didn’t know the route we were on. I was concerned about getting lost.
Then, I heard the word “bugs.” I looked down on his shorn head and realized he’d had a little problem. Gulp. I told myself that with his buzz cut, I’d be able to see any movement, and I didn’t.
I don’t think of myself as a germophobe, but perhaps I am. If so, I am only a seasonal germophobe. When I am running a summer library program, I don’t think of sickness. I’m fine the first few weeks of school. Once the coughs and sneezes and worse start up, however, I am a different person. I spend a lot of time with my friend, the sanitizer dispenser. Every library has one.
I do love the kids I work with. They are a delight. Working with students aged 4 to 18 is a dream job for me. But there’s no denying it, especially in November. They are efficient little germ factories. It’s a good thing I’ve finally developed some immunity. I hope.
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