Hand to hand combat

Howard Hughes is back; he showed up the night of parent-teacher conferences.

I thought I was prepared with grade book, sign-in sheet, student progress reports and a 12-oz bottle of hand sanitizer. But I wasn’t ready for the parent who wiped her nose on the back of her right hand at the same exact moment I reached out with mine to thank her for coming.

I knew what was about to happen, but I couldn’t retract my offer of good will. I couldn’t withdraw my hand and risk offending one who entrusted her child to my tutelage.

As my fingers closed around hers, I felt the cooled moisture and imagined it seeping into my pores and racing toward my bloodstream.

And when the classroom door closed behind the exiting mother and offspring, I ran to the sink and turned on the water that sprayed from the faucet around which students often wrap their little lips to get a drink. Then I squirted foamy soap into my hands. Over and over and over.

Was I fast enough? Was I killing the germs? Would I live?

OK, maybe I over-reacted. But I know that teachers everywhere are dodging the sneezes and coughs of children who should be home getting well. It just doesn’t help when parents inadvertently share the love by spreading the germs.

With continuing cases of H1N1, health officials have not let up in their urgent warnings: wash your hands, cover your coughs. Keep your germs (and viruses) to yourself.

And keep your hands off your face, they say.

How many times during the day do we touch our faces to rub our brow, massage a temple or scratch an itch? Eyes are particularly susceptible to infectious transfers.

No one wants to be sick this time of year, so maybe it would help to follow a common behavioral rule for the sake of good health:

Keep your hands to yourself!

A smile and friendly verbal greeting may serve to get us safely through the season.