Tip 129: Parent pandemic preparation

The recently announced Swine flu pandemic has seen governments making many proactive preparations to control it. Some governments from developed countries even have drew out action plans years earlier and prepared a good stock pile of medicine as they had forecasted the possibility of a flu pandemic taking place in the near future. As much as the role of a state leader has grown more challenging, so is the burden of a parent. That is because equipped with knowledge in this information age, parents can do their bit to undertake safety precautions. Yeap, the long list of tasks and responsibilities of a parent have grown to not just merely provide for basic food and shelter to our kids. From providing education and the need to revere God to giving constant loving attention, from giving exposure to arts and music to encouraging the love of sports and other hobbies, the list goes on and on. But what can the parent do in regards to recent developments in pandemic? There are actually many practical steps down to rationing one's annual leave to cater for possible children sickness to be able to give the appropriate attention necessary. There will come a time when strict regulations would require children who are sick to be not admitted to nurseries and schools and the parents would have to take leave to care for them (and not trust entirely on their maids either). As population and globalization increase, the world grows weary about maintaining control and there will be more strict regulations that would ultimately affect the parent. Better be prepared than getting stressed out with little resources when the time comes for them.















I still remember an advice a teacher gave to me noticing my gungho attitude to want to seize every opportunity out there. She said,"Health is your best weapon to achieve success". As much as hard work and long hours may sometimes be necessary to get results, there needs to be a sustainable plan to ensure health is taken care of. Sustainability will be a theme that is highlighted more as developed countries push developing countries to adopt safer, ethical, cleaner and pollutant free methods even when developing countries are eager to deliver consistent high growth rates. Hence, as much as a trip by flight is necessary and paid for, there will be global regulations towards only admitting passengers who are in good health. This would mean the parent would need to ensure sufficient sleep and good health care habits for the whole family before important flights. As much as many circumstances are out of our control, safety precautions to avoid falling ill can be taken. For instance, I am beginning to be more mindful these days about Haruka putting her hands into her mouth. Since she now understands when I tell her not to do something, I try to spend more time to remind her. It helps since I carry her when we walk around most places. So I could easily reach out to remove her hands from her mouth and if necessary pull out a sanitized tissue to wipe her. It would be good if Haruka could one day learn how to wash her hands on her own and that would be another lesson daddy needs to teach her. Daddies also need to be checking at the nurseries, playcenters and Sunday Schools, if the teachers are enforcing stricter rules on admitting sick children to the group as there needs to be awareness that such safety and health precautions are more necessary than missing a few days of school. It probably is so much more simpler as a cave man daddy who only need to be concerned about hunting and bringing food back home each day. Now dad needs to also be ready with a sanitized tissue and be expecting it on others, something that's not part of his male instinct probably. Better be prepared, then be inconvenienced or worse, sorry for not taking the necessary precautions.















This may be not known to some, but in 1957-58, the Asian flu pandemic caused 2 million deaths globally and in 1968-69, the Hong Kong flu killed 1 million people globally. This is enough warning to have that sanitized tissue. Any daddy carrying it please leave a comment.















(Photos show more photos of Haruka's first Macau trip to Largo do Senado, the replica buildings near Sands and Babylon casino and finally the Venice like canals that even have gondola rides with gondoliers singing O Sole Mio (My Sun in Neapolitan/Southern Italian language) at the Venetian Macau which is the world's largest single casino resort and Asia's largest single structure hotel building).