(WSIL) -- Joshua Kettering is a father of five. He says the difficulty his kids have keeping their masks on has him concerned for their safety this fall.
"I have trouble with the two little ones. I have trouble with them keeping on masks. We've tried to train them, and they're just not, you know, they're young kids, and they're not used to doing that. I see them misbehaving, you know, in school if they have to wear a mask all the time."
Dr. Jeff Ripperda with Shawnee Health Care says masks are crucial for going back to school.
"We know from really good studies, from really good research, that wearing a mask lowers the chance of transmission by 50%, and maybe better than that. So, opening schools is a massive step towards getting back to normal, and masks might mean the difference between massive outbreaks with school openings, and school openings being no big deal for the transmission of the disease."
So if your child isn't comfortable in a mask, what can you do?
"So I think the biggest thing that adults can do to get kids to wear a mask is just to normalize it, to make it seem like it's not a big deal. Probably the worst thing you can do to try to get a kid to behave like you want them to do is to over explain it."
Fortunately, a home school program is being offered this year through Kettering's school district. For his family, he says it's the safest option.
"You know, it's not a permanent thing, but just for this year, I believe it'd be the safest thing to do for my kids."
If you find yourself trying home school this fall, Dr. Ripperda has one key suggestion.
"Use technology. You know, we probably let our kids use technology way too much for entertainment purposes, for social media, in ways that are maybe not good for their brains. Here's a chance to turn that around, and use some of these skills that we as a society have learned, about how to interconnect with each other through technology, to our benefit for once."
Dr. Ripperda says if schools are going to open successfully, students need to stay home if they feel even a minor illness coming on. In addition, he says wearing masks and frequent hand washings are a must.
