UPDATE: How to Protect Your Child From Swine Flu

It looks as if the swine flu, or H1N1 influenza virus, might not turn into the problem that it looked like it might be. Part of the reason that there was a panic was because the flu looked like it had the ability to kill people at high rates, and to kill those who were previously healthy. It is also a completely new and novel virus to researchers, so they could predict little about how the virus would spread and what it was capable of.

If you and your family washed their hands, stayed home when sick and covered your cough - congratulations! If your school closed and didn't complain (too much), that's also great. The schools were in a tough position, and were only trying to do what they felt was best with the information that they had.

If you organized an outing on the days that the schools were closed for your teen and his or her friends, please consider NOT doing that in the future. The purpose of closing school is to keep those who are infected away from each other, to prevent the spread of disease. Because you can be infectious before you show symptoms, someone could spread the disease without knowing it.

There is no way to know if this strain of flu virus will come back bigger and badder and deadlier than ever next year. Don't forget the lessons learned from this round of swine flu so that we can be even more effective in preventing its spread next time around.