As the days grow longer and warmer, you'll see more kids outside – riding bikes, running and rolling in the grass, being with friends, and just being kids. Then one fine summer evening after a fun-filled afternoon outdoors, your child comes home sniffling and coughing. You wonder, is it a burst of allergies or an uncommon but not unheard-of summer cold?

In the heat of summer, we're all less likely to contract the virus we know as the common cold. And millions of people sneeze and sniffle through seasonal allergies. So, how do you tell a cold from an allergy so you know how to treat it?

The hallmarks of hay fever and characteristics of a cold