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Teenagers, Territorial Issues and Food Safety
Teenagers, Territorial Issues and Food Safety
Here at the board we strive everyday to answer unanswerable questions. IMHO we are ignoring a readily available source of information; teenagers. Just ask any frustrated parent. Teenagers know everything. "I know!" is their answer to just about an parental question besides; "Can you please come down for dinner?" Recently ours insisted Mother not come into his room uninvited and that HE would bring his wash and dirty dishes out. Sounds good right? Last week he drank water from a glass that had been sitting on his desk for a week. What followed was a nasty sore throat, low grade fever and lack of energy (this last would be difficult for all but a parent to discern). This is of course happening over a holiday weekend when all I can raise at the doctor's office is a recording. What followed was two days of gargling with warm salt water, mother's homemade chicken noodle soup and yet another talk on food safety. My point is just because teenagers think or say they know everything they still need to be reminded about things like food safety and hygiene. Here are some of the things covered in our talk.
1) Don't drink stagnant water. Stagnant water can be water from a green scum covered pond, lake or a glass that has been sitting on a desk for a week.
2) Don't eat food that requires refrigeration that has not been properly refrigerated. A hunk of sandwich left on a desk overnight should be discarded not eaten.
3) Don't drink directly from of beverage containers other people use. It could spread germs. Use a glass instead.
4) Wash hands prior to eating. This means just before eating not just the same day.
5) Hands should also be washed before handling food such as taking a fist full of ice cubes or a few slices of lunchmeat or cheese from a pack.
6) Carefully reseal food packages going into the refrigerator or freezer. They contents will not dry out as fast, spoil as fast or be as likely to spill.
7) Bring down your dirty dishes when you come down for breakfast in the morning.
8) Don't put food you've eaten from back into the fridge unless you label it as yours. This can help prevent the spread of germs to other family members.
9) Dirty dishes go in the dish washer.
10) If the dish, pizza stone etc. will not fit in the dishwasher it should be washed by hand after each use. Mother is not the only person on the face of the earth that can perform this function. To this is added a parental curse: Someday you may have to teach children, just like you, to take care of themselves.*
*Hat tip Bill Cosby
Here at the board we strive everyday to answer unanswerable questions. IMHO we are ignoring a readily available source of information; teenagers. Just ask any frustrated parent. Teenagers know everything. "I know!" is their answer to just about an parental question besides; "Can you please come down for dinner?" Recently ours insisted Mother not come into his room uninvited and that HE would bring his wash and dirty dishes out. Sounds good right? Last week he drank water from a glass that had been sitting on his desk for a week. What followed was a nasty sore throat, low grade fever and lack of energy (this last would be difficult for all but a parent to discern). This is of course happening over a holiday weekend when all I can raise at the doctor's office is a recording. What followed was two days of gargling with warm salt water, mother's homemade chicken noodle soup and yet another talk on food safety. My point is just because teenagers think or say they know everything they still need to be reminded about things like food safety and hygiene. Here are some of the things covered in our talk.
1) Don't drink stagnant water. Stagnant water can be water from a green scum covered pond, lake or a glass that has been sitting on a desk for a week.
2) Don't eat food that requires refrigeration that has not been properly refrigerated. A hunk of sandwich left on a desk overnight should be discarded not eaten.
3) Don't drink directly from of beverage containers other people use. It could spread germs. Use a glass instead.
4) Wash hands prior to eating. This means just before eating not just the same day.
5) Hands should also be washed before handling food such as taking a fist full of ice cubes or a few slices of lunchmeat or cheese from a pack.
6) Carefully reseal food packages going into the refrigerator or freezer. They contents will not dry out as fast, spoil as fast or be as likely to spill.
7) Bring down your dirty dishes when you come down for breakfast in the morning.
8) Don't put food you've eaten from back into the fridge unless you label it as yours. This can help prevent the spread of germs to other family members.
9) Dirty dishes go in the dish washer.
10) If the dish, pizza stone etc. will not fit in the dishwasher it should be washed by hand after each use. Mother is not the only person on the face of the earth that can perform this function. To this is added a parental curse: Someday you may have to teach children, just like you, to take care of themselves.*
*Hat tip Bill Cosby
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