Rich Henderson's Diary
The First 180 Days

Rich's Diary: The Battle of the Bugs

Week 37

Aaah-CHOO! Sorry about that. It's another one. Even now as summer approaches, I sit here fighting off my seventh cold of the school year. I can't believe it, my seventh cold! Back at the beginning of the school year, a teacher told me to prepare myself to catch more colds, strep throat, and other "bugs" than usual. Well, she was absolutely right. This school year, I have had all those wonderful bacterial and viral surprises -- plus a few more I don't care to mention. How did I get them? I am sure, although I could never prove it in open court, that my 23 "little angels" have taken the message of sharing to heart and have generously distributed their germs to their teacher. Lucky me.

"Please use a tissue." "Cover your mouth when you cough." "Your finger doesn't belong there." "Go wash your hands." I continue to utter such daily reminders to my fifth graders. Even now, in the last month of their last year in elementary school, I must still remind them to try to avoid spreading germs. Although we continue to review the virtue of cleanliness and the use of tissues, those seeds of proper hygiene do not seemed to have found fertile soil in the minds of some of my students. We talk, they shake their heads in acknowledgment of the material discussed, and then they firmly avow to never partake of such unhygienic behavior again. "That's disgusting," they say. Their sense of hygienic outrage usually doesn't last very long, however. Soon, someone will sneeze. As the echo of the sneeze reverberates around the room, I look to see whether the sneezer is using a tissue. Often, it is not a tissue that appears but two hands cupped around a child's face. Before I can send the child to the bathroom to wash his or her hands, the child quickly distributes the evidence elsewhere -- usually onto his or her pants. It is as though students' pants contain some mystical, miraculous, anti-germ power that only the vigorous wiping of the hands activates. Who needs tissues or soap and water? A look of complete satisfaction envelops the child's face. I lower my head in defeat as I lose another battle in this war on microorganisms.

I am sick and tired -- literally. I am looking forward to the summer so I can fully recuperate and prepare for next year's round of colds, bugs, and other ailments. In the meantime, I am just going to try to make it through the last few days without catching anything else. Wish me luck.

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Rich Henderson
Education World®
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