If your kids go to school then it is quite likely that your family is going to vulnerable to catching the flu this winter season. There are some way to avoid this!

First off tell everyone that they have to wash their hands all of the time. Teach your kids to scrub their wrists, back of hands and the finger nails. Make it the law that your kids have to wash their hands every time they come into the house, before mealtime and before bed-time.

Each person has to wash their hands for at least twenty seconds. This is about the length of time that it takes to sing Happy Birthday.

It also helps to base alcohol based hand sanitizers in your car and everyone else where you or your kids are unable to get to a sink.

You should also teach your kids to keep their hands off their face. Flu viruses thrive once they reach your eyes, mouth or nose.

Make it a ritual during the winter months to gargle twice a day with warm salt water. Use Listerine if you must but warm salt water is just as effective and does not dry the mouth out. Gargling with salt is an inexpensive way to kill the HSN1 and other serious viruses.

You can also teach your kids how to flush their nostrils every day with warm salt water. Some kids can't handle this as a ritual but it is a great treatment and preventative measure for upper respiratory and sinus ailments. Blowing your nose hard once a day can also bring down the number of viruses that might be hiding in your nostrils.

Make sure your family is also bolstered by taking vitamins C and D. Foods that are richening Vitamin C include kiwi, citrus fruits, red and green peppers, cantaloupes, strawberries, Brussels sprouts and tomatoes. Supplement this diet with Zinc tablets for best results.

Vitamin D is necessary because it helps activate the immune system to defend you against the flu virus and any other kind of infection. Sunlight and fish oil are the best known supplements of vitamin D.

Yet another tip is to diligently keep everything clean including light switches, door knobs and computer mousse. You should also use the 'sanitize' cycle on your dishwasher to keep things hygienic.

In the winter drinking plenty of warm liquids like tea and water with lemons can help wash viruses from the throat and into the stomach where they are unable to survive.