Healthy Teacher: How Parents Can Help

Being a healthy teacher is hard, but parents can help! We all know teachers are basically superheroes who wear many different hats througout the day.

Teachers transform themselves into a nurse, a parent, a friend, a mediator, a counselor, a confidant, and sometimes a referee every day. While teachers are great at wearing all of these different hats, every good superhero has a sidekick who helps keep him/her healthy.

So, whose job is it to be the teacher’s sidekick? Parents.

How Parents Can Help Have a Healthy Teacher

Parents are great resources when it comes to anything related to students because, well, they live with the people you work with every day so they know a thing or two. How can parents become great sidekicks and help promote a healthy teacher? There are so many ways!

The Basics:

I’m not sure if you know this but the school is a petri dish where germs throw raves. One way to be a great sidekick and help your teacher stay healthy is through teaching good hygiene practices.

These hygiene practices include but are not limited to:

Sneezing into your arm
Getting a Kleenex instead of wiping your nose with your hand
Using hand sanitizer
Washing your hands regularly

In addition to practicing good hygiene at home, parents can be great sidekicks by keeping their sick kids home. As teachers, we are well aware it is hard to miss work and it can be trying to get students caught up, but sending a sick kid to school is just putting other students and the teacher at risk.

Going a Step Above:

Sidekicks every once in while go a step above to help ensure the superhero stays healthy, especially during the busy season. If you want to go a step above for your child’s teacher, consider the following ideas.

Pack a Lunch: I’m not sure if this is common knowledge, but teachers can be really bad at eating lunch. If your child’s teacher is anything like me, I usually forget my lunch and don’t have time to hit up the cafeteria. As a nice treat, you can get together with other parents and do a “meals on wheels” day at school. Prepare a nice meal for the teachers that is both delicious and nutritious. I promise healthy teachers will love it and be forever grateful for your generosity.
Give a Gift: Now you don’t have to buy your child’s teacher or teachers gifts upon gifts, but sometimes a LITTLE something is really nice for the mental health. When people are shown they are appreciated, they tend to get a pep in their step and take better care of themselves because they feel like they are doing a good job.
Post It: Gifts are not always things that you buy. Giving a teacher a little post it note that says “Thank you” or “Don’t forget to drink your water” can go a long way. This shows the teacher you care about him/her as a person.

Above and Beyond

Teachers work hard and often go above and beyond for students working late nights, early mornings, and often on the weekends. So, when teachers do have time off or attend a community event, let them have the time off. This doesn’t mean teachers don’t want to talk to you, of course we do, but know if the location is a good place for “parent teacher conference.”

The biggest thing to remember is teachers have hobbies and family outside of school too and, while you may share some of those hobbies (and maybe family as well), there is a time and place for school. Be respectful of the time off teachers get. We want to talk to you, we promise, but our brains just need a break and we want to keep ourselves healthy for your child.

How Teachers Can Keep Themselves Healthy

Parents can be great resources for teachers, but teachers can help themselves stay healthy too. There are many ways teachers can help keep themselves healthy! Here are just a few ways to keep those superpowers going strong!

Pack a Lunch: Food is a big part of staying refueled and it’s so easy to skip lunch, but skipping lunch doesn’t do anything for you. It can become a black hole where you don’t eat at school so you eat too much at home which can cause health concerns. So, pack a lunch the night before so you are ready for the day ahead.
Treat Yourself: Sometimes giving yourself a gift is a good thing. Take yourself out for sushi on a Saturday or get that Starbucks cup you want and use it to drink more water! Treating yourself to something little every once in a while is a good way to take care of yourself so you stay healthy.
Respect Yourself: Just as parents should be respectful of your time, you need to be respectful of your time as well. Make sure you are taking the time you need to be healthy. It’s entirely appropriate to say, “It’s great to see you and I would love to keep talking, but I am taking a break from thinking about school. How was your ________?” It’s setting boundaries and boundaries are good.

Keeping yourself healthy is so important whether you are a teacher or a parent. When superheroes and sidekicks work cohesively to build each other up, mountains can be moved and the flu can stay away.

Are you looking for more ways to become a healthy teacher? Check out these other blog posts for some tips and tricks to getting healthy for your students and yourself.

Healthy Teacher Series:

The Why
The Food
The Exercise
Stay Organized
Battle Stress