With all the recent news about the H1N1 Virus (otherwise known as the Swine Flu) swirling around us, I find myself in high mommy paranoia mode. My 10 year old son suffers from seasonal allergies and he is experiencing the worst of it now. With every cough, sneeze or blow of the nose, I find myself checking him for a fever even though I know his symptoms are purely allergy related.

In the absence of this nationwide health alert, I would be much more rational but I find myself  falling prey to the anxiety that comes with each additional school closing announced on the evening news. My children’s school has cornered the market on Purell and they are taking every necessary precaution. Still, when I received an email this morning from their school nurse sent to all parents and the subject line read, “Health Advisory Alert,” my heart stopped. Strange as it may sound, I was relieved to hear that the nurse was reporting 2 cases of relatively common and non life -threatening viruses …Fifth disease and Coxsackie. It’s best to be alerted to what has been diagnosed in other children at school so that we are able to be on the lookout for similar symptoms with our own kids at home.

We are all living through some scary times, and the media can make it even scarier, but at the end of the day our best tool still remains our mothers’ instinct. We need to stay calm and listen to the voice of reason that lies deep (often very deep) within.