Yes, it’s normal—and even beneficial—for kids to catch up to 6 colds a year

It doesn’t matter if it’s at daycare, preschool or a playgroup, wherever children convene they will inevitably share whatever germs they’ve acquired. To the parents dealing with the fallout from these colds, coughs, flus and stomach bugs, an invitation to play can seem like an invitation to never-ending sickness. It’s true that kids’ social lives do bring germs home—but this is also both totally normal and actually beneficial.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) states that by the time most kids are 2 years old, they’ll have had 8 to 10 colds. It’s also common that elementary-age children come down with up to 6 upper respiratory infections each year. These infections occur most often when children cluster inside for prolonged periods of time—namely between September and May, a period of eight months.

That means infections regularly occur in otherwise healthy children an average of every month or every other month of the year.

It’s no one’s fault. It’s not your fault. It’s not their care providers’ fault. It’s not to be blamed on your child’s diet or sleeping patterns or that time they walked through a puddle of water in bare feet in late October. It just happens—and it’s normal.

Having said that, it’s daunting for working parents or for any family to constantly have children with coughs, runny noses, fevers, congestion, inability to sleep well and be miserable with the aforementioned symptoms. Those daycare germs are also a threat to the adults in the house who are likely to become sick themselves and then need to muscle through a workday or take a sick day. It’s similarly difficult with multiple children in the household who are all dragging home their own infections from daycare or school and passing them on to other family members.

Most viral infections are mild

However, these infections are a normal part of growing one’s immunity and we, as adults, have far fewer infections than we did as children because of our robust and well-established immune function. That’s because these infections are actually beneficial when it comes to strengthening kids’ developing immune systems.

But they’re still a lot to grapple with. Most of these primarily viral infections are mild, non-life threatening diseases that cause symptoms that make kids miserable. Alternate childcare arrangements are required if your child has a fever, a nonstop runny nose, or is too sick to engage in standard daycare and school activities. The best thing you can do is plan for this to happen—because it will.

Keep an eye out for secondary infections

Some of these mild viral infections may precede an ear infection, pneumonia, or even a bloodstream infection. Know that these secondary bacterial infections following a viral illness are uncommon, but keep an eye out: The typical story is that a child has a cold that should be on the wane, but instead of the usual decline in symptoms over a period of a week to 10 days, you’ll notice a fairly abrupt increase in the height of the fever, difficulty breathing, onset of vomiting, increasing discomfort or pain, or other new symptoms.

This should prompt a visit to your pediatrician to obtain an accurate diagnosis as to what’s going on. It’s possible that an antibiotic is required to now treat what could be a secondary bacterial infection.

Routine childhood vaccinations are important

Routine childhood vaccinations have remarkably decreased the numbers of preventable childhood diseases, and it’s important to keep up with them: Missed or late shots can mean children are vulnerable for longer than necessary to highly contagious diseases, which can be even more serious for younger children and babies. Some vaccines are also thought to confer cross-immunity to other viruses, which means even more protection.

But as for those seemingly constant colds? The good news is that each one of these childhood viral illnesses acts as another preventive tool for your child—further protecting them against these germs that cannot be avoided. As your children get older, their immune systems become more developed and they will slowly have fewer viral illnesses. Until then, stock up on tissues.

A version of this post was originally published October 26, 2016.