Winter weather has finally hit the area I live in. By last year, the school was running out of snow days and the number of two hour delays that had occurred were plentiful. Districts in my area were wondering what they were going to do with February, which is routinely a worse month than January.
This year is just the opposite. We seem to be getting the cold weather – the highs at my home yesterday did not reach double digits, putting a real squash on my running outside – but not the precipitation. And even the temperatures seem to be on a ping pong table, bouncing between below average and above average. We have seldom had two or three days of average temperatures in a row.
Unfortunately, the weather is taking its toll on my household. My youngest is still finishing his senior year of high school. For some obscure reason, his bedroom seems to be the coldest in the house. This is extremely odd as my bedroom is larger and is an addition to the house and built on a concrete slab. He thinks he is getting an ear infection. He got one last winter when we had an extremely cold – below zero overnights – snap. I have done everything I can to help him prevent this infection, if indeed he has one. I have reminded him to put a hat on when he goes outside. I have suggested he sleep upstairs in his brother’s bed as this particular brother is at college. I have suggested various clothing, as alternatives to what he chooses to wear. I have also suggested certain foods – mostly those that the average high school student would prefer to not eat.
What do you do when you feel a child is getting ill? Do you immediately call a medical professional or do you attempt to use some holistic methods to prevent or “cure” illness?
Nicki's Nook 
It is cold for a couple days, than gets warm again. Today it is 7 degrees! I could take this temperature all winter!! Only had a few very cold days so far and little snow here as well
Cheers
We must live in the same weather zone. That is what it has been like here. We are scheduled to get snow tonight overnight (3-5″) and then rain on Monday. UGH!
I’m in Connecticut and I’m welcoming this wacky weather. I’ll take the 40f days with clear roads since I was expecting to be fighting snow. The extreme cold days like last weekend are tough but I just put on the multiple layers, scarfs, hats, etc. I’m training for a Feb marathon so this weather is exactly what I need. Unfortunately I had a bit of achilles tendinits around Christmas so I couldn’t take advantage of all the great weather. On your son’s room….if he’s like many teenagers he probably keeps the door closed alot. If you have heating zones….keeping on room closed off throws off the thermostats.
Mike – Thanks for stopping by. I trained last year for a mid-Feb marathon and the weather didn’t seem to bother me. I got out and did all those runs. This year, I seemed to have wussed out on most of the bad weather. I seem to be using it as an excuse. 🙂
I absolutely pitch a fit in the winter if my kids do not take their vitamins. It is like clockwork—when they are faithful with vitamins, they stay well. When they aren’t, they seem to get sick. It is an ongoing battle with them, but I fight valiantly! I save the doctor visits for when I am pretty sure a prescription is needed, in the case of bacterial infection or something like a severe cough where OTC things aren’t working.
I am big on no prescriptions and the kids can’t seem to figure out why. Seems like the ear thing that we thought was coming on is not so maybe we passed it by.