It is a joy for every parent to watch their little kids grow up right in front of them. And being parents, we want to provide the best protection and maintain the best health standards for our children. No matter what our problems are, we try to ensure that our kids are happy, healthy, and protected.
With the rise in pollution, a mask has become a very essential item in ensuring the health and well-being of every child. Some parents who smoke, and shop vape products, also buy masks to keep their children protected against the harmful effects of the habit. Deteriorating air quality in almost every location in the world makes a mask an essential item for every child.
Being adults and being tempered to the environment outside, we are less prone to quickly fall sick due to air pollution. But children are at more risk of falling sick due to poor air quality and pollution. This is primarily because of a few reasons:
- Children have weaker immunity.
- Their exposure to the outside environment has been significantly low.
- The air quality has been continuously degrading in almost every neighborhood in several major cities and suburbs all across the world.
- Children have a higher respiratory rate, which makes them breathe faster leading to greater intake of pollutants and other contaminant particles in the air.
This makes it extremely essential for every parent to adopt adequate and effective measures to protect their child from the harmful consequences of air pollution. An air pollution mask can be a great solution for ensuring the protection of your child against hazardous and polluted air.
Apart from masks, parents may also opt to keep their children indoors and reduce their viable outdoor time, but this option has its own limitations. A child needs to regularly go out, for school, sports, and other activities which are essential for the physical and mental growth of children. Hence, these are inevitable situations and cannot be avoided. For such situations, using a mask for your child, can be the best way out.
An anti-pollution mask is also extremely essential for children who are exposed to smokers. If you are a parent, it is advisable that you quit smoking and opt for better alternatives which are less harmful. You can consider vapes to be a great option and you can shop for vape products to ensure a cleaner and safer environment around your child, while also perpetuating your nicotine addiction. Although, smoking in front of your child must be avoided at all costs both for health and moral issues.
The various types and specifications of anti-pollution masks
Air pollutants are emitted from a variety of sources. The nature and specifications of such pollutants and contaminants vary, based on several factors. To ensure complete protection, a variety of anti-pollution masks have been designed. Kids should not go outside without one of these masks, even when they are traveling in a vehicle. Let’s take a look at the various types of masks and what they do.
P-rated masks
These are considered to be the best anti-pollution masks for kids. Emissions contain a variety of contaminants including a concoction of dust, chemicals, fine particulate matter (PM), and secondary pollutants such as ground-level ozone. PM 10 and PM 2.5 are the most common pollutants produced during fuel combustion.
P-rated masks which are P95, P99, or P100 masks, protect you against these particulate matters and oil-based pollutants like gasoline, diesel, etc which cause an array of severe respiratory disorders and chronic illnesses of the cardiovascular and immune systems.
N-rated masks
The N-rated masks are N95, N99, and N100 which are suitable for non-oil based pollutants as these masks are not oil-resistant. But, they provide complete and comprehensive protection from particulate matters.
Health professionals often recommend an N99 mask for the best protection of your children. An N00 mask can effectively provide protection from the dangerous PM 2.5 particles which is one of the key causes of asthma and several types of bronchitis. These illnesses have been noticed to be affecting kids at an increased rate due to rising air pollution.
Cambridge Mask
This is a comparatively new variety of mask that has been designed to provide better protection from particulate matter, other air-borne particles, and a variety of bacteria and viruses spread in the air. These maks are usually triple-layered and provide much more enhanced protection from almost all kinds of air contaminants.
Cambridge maks are generally available in cotton, making them skin-friendly as well as comfortable to wear, which can be essential for kids.
Choosing the right mask for your kid
All that being said, when choosing a mask for your child, a few things need to be kept in mind. As parents we are worried about the health and well-being of our kids, as much as we are concerned about them being comfortable. So all that needs to be weighed in while making the final choice that is the best one.
The category
The kind of mask you are buying for your children and its purpose must be amply clear to you. Whether you need an N99 or a P100 mask must be taken into account. Advice from a doctor can be useful.
Special valve
Whichever mask you are buying, you must check if it has a special valve or channel in it to propel out the exhaled air.
Size
When shopping for a mask for your child, choosing the right size is very important. This is not only because of aesthetics or how it looks, but the mask must not leave a gap and must support the bridge of the nose. The nose, mouth, and chin should all be adequately covered. It should not have any air leaks as well.
Comfort
Buying a mask that is comfortable for your kid to wear is extremely important, as children often tend to reject items that cause a disturbance or irritation.
Ending notes
That being said, if you are a smoker, shop vape products and quit smoking, because nothing does more damage to your child’s health than the harmful chemicals of burning tobacco. This can be a great step towards improving your child’s health, besides just buying a mask.