FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF JAN. 6, 2002:
How can I convince my children to wash their hands more often?
This is a tough one, since even adults don’t wash their hands as well or as often as they should, says Sandy McCurdy, University of Idaho Extension food safety specialist. And it’s especially important during cold and flu season.
A study of elementary school classrooms in Detroit found that children with regularly scheduled hand-washing times—at the beginning of the day, after recess, before lunch and before going home—tallied 24 percent fewer days absent from school due to respiratory illness and 51 percent fewer days away from school for stomach upsets, compared with classrooms without scheduled hand-washing.
“If this information doesn’t motivate your kids, try making hand-washing more fun by buying colored, scented or foaming soaps,” McCurdy says.
It takes at least 20 seconds of lathering to get hands clean: ask your kids to try counting to 20 during that time—using spacer words like Mississippi or hippopotamus—or singing the “Happy Birthday” song twice.
My husband is a “spender” and I’m a “saver.” We have a monthly budget, but every month he exceeds it. The tension about money is really building in our household. Can this marriage be saved?!
Yes, this marriage can be saved, says Barbara Petty, University of Idaho Extension family and consumer science educator.
“It sounds like you have your finances in a single account and are engaged in a real tug-of-war over that one pot,” she says. “Both of you need to let go of your ends and come up with a different solution.”
Petty recommends establishing three different accounts—yours, mine and ours. The “ours” account pays for those monthly expenses that you agree are needs. Once those bills are paid, divide any remaining money equally between the two of you. You’re free to save, if you’d like, and he’s free to spend, if he likes.
“Do not bail him out if he overspends,” she says. “You’re not accountable to each other for what you do with this money.”
After several months, Petty predicts you’ll be feeling good about the savings you’re accumulating and your husband will have taken responsibility for his financial decisions without putting the family’s finances in jeopardy.
Do preservatives really extend the freshness of cut flowers? Which ones do you recommend?
Preservatives add nutritious sugar as well as a germicide and a solution acidifier to cut flowers, says JoAnn Robbins, University of Idaho Extension educator. You should always add some to warm water as you fill your vase. (Be sure to first recut the bases of your flowers with smooth, slanting cuts, remove all foliage that will be below water, and clean the vase. Those steps help, too.)
You can either use commercial preservatives according to label instructions or you can make your own. Robbins endorses two homemade recipes recommended by horticulturists at the University of California at Davis:
· a pint of regular (not diet) 7 Up, Sprite or equivalent, mixed with an equal volume of water and a teaspoon of household bleach
· a quart of water with 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon or lime juice, 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of household bleach
Robbins cautions that some flowers are sensitive to salts from water softeners or fluoride from municipal water treatment. If this might be a problem, use deionized or distilled water.
“Change the solution in the vase completely every two days, especially if you use a homemade concoction,” she advises. “And keep the flowers out of direct sunlight and away from hot, drying air flows.”
By the way, research has shown that neither aspirin nor copper pennies will extend cut flower life.
[READERS: Do you have a question about your home, yard or garden? Send it to HomeWise, University of Idaho Educational Communications, Moscow, ID 83844-2332 or e-mail it to homewise@uidaho.edu. Mention of proprietary products or firms does not constitute endorsement by University of Idaho Extension or imply approval to the exclusion of other suitable products or firms.]