IOWA, USA — Local 5 spoke with Kelsey Huebsch, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner at MercyOne, to get some helpful tips to make sure your child is wearing a face mask properly and safely.
Children under the age of 2 don't need to wear a face mask
It's important to reiterate that children under the age of 2 should not be wearing a face mask. And that is because they don't have that independence or that ability to move their face mask if they're uncomfortable or if they are unable to breathe. So children under the age of 2 should not be wearing a mask.
Explain why we wear face coverings
Kind of the first tip regarding getting children to wear masks would be, you know, talking to them about the importance of why we wear them.
So we wear the masks to help prevent other people from getting our germs. So children learn in school all the time about how it's important to be kind and how being a good friend is important. It's important to be, you know, respectful and responsible and safe. And all of those things are really good ways to kind of reiterate that we are wearing this mask to prevent our friends from getting our germs to prevent the spread of illness and COVID-19.
Pick out a mask
After you've explained to them why they wear this, to talk to them about picking out their own masks.
So that's been something that's been really exciting in my house. My son has a Minion mask, he has an alligator wearing sunglasses masks. So it's been fun to kind of have him choose and my other three children kind of choose their own masks,find their favorite colors, something that they're excited to wear so that they're more willing to wear the mask.
Face coverings are okay and are recommended to kind of help prevent the spread of those germs. So getting them involved in that, you can find a lot of different masks online. You can find a lot locally as well. So get them involved in that part of the mask-wearing process.
Practice wearing a mask at home
So we know that we are as a family, sharing those germs that we have. And practice in the house is a safe way for them to practice how the mask fits on their face and reminding them to not touch their face or adjust the mask at all times.
So they can practice wearing the mask in the safety of their home before they wear that in public or at school.
Model wearing a mask when out in public
I think one of the most important things is for us as parents to model wearing masks when we are out in public.
So we know that our children learn from us and they take the lead from us as parents. And so it's important if we are going out to the grocery store that we say you know, 'Mommy's gonna wear her mask when she's at the grocery store ... you're gonna wear your mask at school' to help make sure that we aren't spreading our germs to the other people that we come in contact with.
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