Thursday, October 24, 2019

Allergy Season


When fall arrives, so does my allergies. My favorite seasons are spring and fall and that is when my allergies hit me full force. When this happens, I might not be getting the rest I need because I have trouble breathing. This, in turn, may make me cranky or out of sorts. When I don’t feel well (due to sniffling and sneezing), I am not going to do my best at anything. I can’t help it and hopefully, the allergy attack doesn’t last too long. I try to take over the counter medicine to help.

I try to remember that students may be going through the same thing, so I try to talk about it at the end of September and the beginning of October. That is the time here when the leaves begin to fall. Leave mold is my worst enemy! By talking about it with my class, it helps them see that I’m human and that I recognize that there may be times that they suffer from allergies also.

I wanted to give some suggestions for teachers inside and outside the classroom.

1.     Have a box of tissues available for students to blow their noses.
2.     Don’t have any active fragrances in the classroom that can trigger an allergy attack. For some reason, in the spring and fall, fragrances only make it worse. This includes perfumes, hand lotions, fragrant soaps, and air fresheners.
3.     Don’t allow students to put hand sanitizer or lotion on in the classroom. (This sets me off every time!).
4.     Be mindful of when you use hand sanitizer or lotion outside the classroom. Make sure you aren’t close to other people.
5.     Allow the student to eat a cough drop if needed. Mentholyptus helps me best. It opens up my nasal passages so I can breathe.
6.     If you are thinking of getting a class pet, check with the parents first about allergies. If my teachers had brought in a rabbit, I would have had to go to the hospital!
7.     Think before you bring any kind of plant. Mums are the worse for setting off allergies.

Do you have any other tips to help avoid allergy attacks in the classroom? Please share.

Photo by Channey on Unsplash

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