What do you do when your child still can’t be vaccinated against COVID? It’s a dilemma. I send my youngest son, James, to school, because he needs to be there, and he is very good about wearing his mask. I limit our activities to outdoor ones, except for dance, where masks are worn.

The vaccine still has not been approved for children under 12. When James’ September doctor’s appointment was moved to October, I thought, “great, maybe the vaccine will be approved for kids by then.”

Nope.

This week, he caught a cold. As soon as he progressed to coughing, I had to keep him home from school. And I found myself wondering how he caught a cold. That thought process is useless. That’s why it’s called the common cold.

James was worried when he started coughing. I had to reassure him he just had a cold, and wasn’t all that sick. I also had to tell him to stop speculating where he caught the cold.

He took a good long nap the day he stayed home and felt well enough to complain vociferously when a little of the honey lemon mix I gave him for his cough spilled on his shirt. I felt that was a good sign that he wasn’t feeling too bad. I added a little ground ginger to the mix, and he didn’t like the taste. I was unsympathetic. I’ve long told my kids, “It’s medicine, it’s not candy.”

Still, the nap and the honey/lemon/ginger mix seemed to work well on the coughing.

My adoptive mom always gave us the honey and lemon when I was young. Some home remedies really do work. Honey, at least the raw kind, has antibiotic properties. I don’t give my kids raw honey, but even the store bought honey seems to help.

Still, I will feel a lot better when the COVID vaccine is available for James. Hopefully it will be soon.