Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Little Germ Carriers


Last week I volunteered to help out with my son's Christmas party at school. The entire 2nd grade rotated through the classroom, and we helped them decorate sugar cookies. This sounded like a fun thing to do...until I saw something that made my skin crawl.

First, let me point out that I tease my husband ALL the time about his "germaphobic" ways. I call him "Monk", for those of you who have seen that t.v. show, you know what I'm talking about. I'm sad to say that after 13 years of marriage to this man...he's rubbing off on me! But, in my defense, what I saw while decorating sugar cookies in my son's class, would gross out any parent.

Okay, here goes - there was a whole plate of cookies on each table. Of course the teacher explained that with the flu going around, and in order to not spread germs, you should take the first, and only, cookie you touch. How many know that just because you explain this, doesn't mean that there weren't several kids who had to pick up every single cookie to examine which one was the BIGGEST? So at this point, I'm already grossed out.

Then, they were to spread the icing on their own cookie. They should have each been given their own plastic knife. But no, they used a knife, and put it back in the icing jar. What's the problem with that? Some of the kids decided to lick the extra frosting off of the knife and then stick it back in the icing! There were sprinkles everywhere, icing all over the place, kids licking their hands, licking the knives, licking, licking, licking EVERYWHERE! This was almost too much for me to handle.

Could things get worse? Yes, because unfortunately, my son wasn't in the first class that came through. No, that would have been too good to be true. He wasn't even in the second class to rotate. You guessed it...he was the LAST class to come through. By this time, I'm wanting to go to him quietly and say "whatever you do, DON'T EAT THAT COOKIE!"

After all this turmoil, I mean volunteering, I was convinced that my son would be sick within a couple of days. Not that I'm wishing anything on him - but seriously, every time I ever took my kids to the play areas in the mall, or Chick-fil-a/McDonalds, they were sick within two days - despite washing their hands or showering them down with hand-sanitizer. We finish out the week, and no sickness. I'm thinking, we've dodged the bullet this time.

Then, out of no where, my husband's throat gets scratchy. I play it off and say it's sinuses from the unpredictable weather. A few days later, he's added a stuffy nose & headache to the mix. Today I get a call from him at work asking if I would please bring him some medicine because he can't take it anymore. It's 3 days until Christmas and he has a full blown cold.

How does this all tie in? I'll tell you...

sugar cookies = gross behavior = germs = little germ carriers = give it to my husband = acts like a BIG baby = headache for ME!


It's not that I'm unsympathetic to his feeling bad...it's just that he's a man, who is sick...need I say more? If you don't understand what I'm talking about, consider yourself blessed.

Thanks a lot little 2nd Graders & have a Merry Christmas!

Disclaimer: This was all written in jist...of course I am nurturing my husband back to health with the greatest of love & care. And, I hold no ill will toward my son's 2nd grade class, or their germy little school projects.

7 comments:

  1. LOL...Popping over to greet you a blessed Christmas and God bless you always.

    You think you're alone? Consider this...I don't want to touch the metal doors going home because a lot of inmates open and close the doors with their hands...So after 10,000 handwashes and gel cleanser, I opted for acrobatic, you know, like using my elbow or feet to open the door...With all the resistant viruses nowadays, it doesn't hurt to be a Monk!

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  2. Ewwwww. When we were making our own gingerbread cookies, my little one kept wanting to lick the knife too. I kept explaining that she couldn't do that because other people would be eating the cookies! I kept taking her knife away from her and washing it. Sigh. NO way, NO HOW would I eat something made by those kids. What were the teachers thinking??!?!?! Ick.

    Poor Bobby. My little Princess has a stuffy nose herself. I am commanding this mess to leave in the Name of Jesus!

    Love ya!
    b

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  3. Cracking up because I totally feel the same way about this whole post. I could have written it myself:) LOL Merry Christmas

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  4. OH goodness, and two days before CHristmas none-the-less. *sigh*

    Hope the rest of you don't catch it. I think your son didn't catch it cuz he's so used to all of those kids' germs and they're sure BUILDING UP their little immune systems, aren't they? =0)

    Merry Christmas!

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  5. Angie, I sneaked a peek here while I am at work, and you had me laughing aloud.

    I totally got the visual of the kids, Bobby and all sick men.

    Tell him to hurry up and get well, and make certain none of you catch it.

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  6. No need for a disclaimer, anyone who is married knows what you mean! And when I taught, I called them carriers all the time :-) They were so trained on the purell too--on before you line up for lunch, on when you come back, on when you sneeze, on after you pick your little third grade nose :-) Funny post. (and thanks for the compliment on the card. If I didn't know how to do them myself, we would not have had this one either. It was so hard to get someone to take our picture) Merry Christmas

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