22
Did you know you always have a temperature?
Bet you thought you only had a temperature
when you were sick. Absolutely everything
has a temperature, even icicles.
Brrrrrr!
When you don’t feel well, your mom or a nurse
might say “let’s see if you have a tempera-
ture,” but what they really mean is “lets see if your tempera-
ture is different from normal.”
So, when you have your temperature taken, don’t be fooled.
Your mom and your doctor already know you have a tempera-
ture, and are just getting an idea of how things are going
inside your body.
Places to measure
your temperature
Your bum
.
Babies and
little kids get their
temperature taken is in
their bum. Poor little
kids,
how embarrassing!
The temperature taken in
your bum is the hottest of
all the places to take
temperature. It’s around
99.6°F
most of the time
.
Your armpit.
When kids get
a little bit older, they might
have their temp taken under
the arm instead of the bum.
This is better, but you have to
keep the thermometer in
your
armpit
with your arm tight
against your chest for a long
time. It’s hard to keep it from
falling out and breaking,
especially if you fly! I wonder
if flying causes the armpit temperature to be the lowest in
your body. It’s around
97.6°F
most of the time.
Your mouth.
Now, if you’re
reading this, you’re probably a big
kid and so you would most likely
have your temperature taken in
your mouth. Not too bad, but
everyone knows you can trick your
mom or your doctor into thinking
you’re sick by doing stuff with
that thermometer.
Bet you
already know of ways to do that!
Most of the time, a temperature in your mouth is about
98.6°F.
Well, sort of...
Your ears.
Now we’re down to ears. And please
pardon us,
ears beat
rears
. But having your
ear pulled sure isn’t
fun, and when you have
an ear infection, it
even hurts. Tempera-
ture taken in your ear
should be higher than
in your mouth, but not
as high as in your rear.
Your heart.
If we were to pick the
best place to measure temperature it
would be in the center of your
heart. But that’s pretty danger-
ous, and surely not be something
you would think was fun.
Arrrrghhh!
In case you’d like to
know, though, temperature in your heart is around
99.4°F
.
Your temporal arter-
ies.
There is a special
place on your head where
we can measure the same
temperature as the blood
in the middle of your
heart. This is because
blood is pumped directly
from your heart to your
head through little tubes
called arteries that carry
blood up the sides of your neck, up the side of your
face just under your skin, and stop at at a place on your
forehead called your temple. Guess what they’re
called?
Wow! Isn’t this the same place your mom
touches with her hand when you don’t feel good?
Did you know that the forehead has been used to
detect fevers as far back in time as anyone can
remember, over 2000 years? There’s a new technol-
ogy that scans the same place your mom touches, and
it’s almost as gentle. It’s an infrared thermometer
called the
TemporalScanner.
It measures your
temperature with a quick and gentle scan across your
forehead. Most of the time, temperature here is
around
99.4°F
, same as your heart. Nothing goes in
your mouth, your ear, or your rear, and in just a
second or two, done!
Now, where is the best place to take
your temperature?
For Kids Only
