The germ invaders have made it into your home in the form of a cold or the dreaded flu, and you know it is only a matter of time before they spread to every member of your family. But it doesn't have to be this way.

By following these 5 steps, and with some diligence, you can prevent the spread of germs. Or if you are really lucky, you can keep them out of your home by teaching your children how to practice proper hygiene at school or daycare so they do not get sick in the first place – or at least not as often.

"Take as many teachable moments as you can to talk to your children about hygiene," says Dana Bates, a registered nurse from Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, and mom to a 1-year-old and 5-year-old. "By having routine interjected with teachable moments ... the children are getting enough repetition of the topic that they start to remember on their own."

Take this philosophy and apply it to these 5 steps to keep your family healthy.

You can never have enough of these disposables around (or in a pinch a roll of toilet paper will work too). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states "the main way that illnesses like colds and flu are spread is from person to person in respiratory droplets of coughs and sneezes." This means in order to stop the germs from spreading you need to contain them.

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