Face Painting During Cold and Flu Season
Since hygiene should be a face painter’s top priority, face painting during the cold and flu season can be kind of tricky.
There are two issues that a Massachusetts face painter will run into during the cold and flu season: 1) turning away sick kids and 2) knowing when you are too sick to face paint.
No one likes telling a child that they cannot get their face painted BUT, a responsible face painter must turn sick children away from time to time.
What I do is just take a look at a child before I begin painting. If I notice that they have a runny nose or a cough I will break the news to them that they cannot have their face painted. I will try, however, to offer them the option of getting another part of their body painted.
This can still be tricky though. Anyone who has kids can tell you that they are not the most hygienic people. They spend a lot of times wiping their nose with things like… their hands… or their sleeves. Where are you offering to paint them? Their hands… or their arms.
Whenever possible, I ask that the child go wash his or her hands and then allow me to use a hand sanitizer on the area I am about to paint. I feel that by doing these two things I can be pretty confident that I’m not spreading any germs that may or may not be on the child’s hands or arms.
Next comes the issue of the face painter being sick. I actually just ran into this situation and I had to make a tough decision. I woke in the morning and felt a little off. I spent the day getting ready for my face painting event that evening.
I noticed myself becoming real tired and then the nose and eye watering began. I made a decision as early as possible to cancel my services for this event. The reason being is that I was just coming down with the illness and was probably at the most contagious point in my illness. I had both a runny nose and watering eyes and I was sneezing non stop.
If it had been a case of me being in the middle of a cold when you are no longer sneezing and leaking fluids out of your face… I probably would have just taken some cold medicine and gotten through the evening.
I felt I would have been too contagious at this point and unfortunately had to cancel. It was a very tough decision but I felt it was the right thing to do.
So as you can see, face painting during the cold and flu season can be tricky. Although different face painters have different face painting styles we should all hold the same hygienic standards. I think that you really need to listen to your inner voice to avoid spreading sickness to your client’s.
You may be missing out on money but you are being a responsible face painter.
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