How to teach your kids to wash their hands properly
Hand washing is important for all age groups. If you instil this vital habit in your child you’ll ensure that they are not spreading germs while also understanding the importance of this essential routine.
Turn a chore into a game
One of the easiest ways of introducing a child to any new procedure is to turn a potential chore into a game. Start off by ensuring that you have sufficient hand cleansing supplies; Brosch Direct among others has a full range of soaps and other products. Your child should be able to reach the sink with ease, so place a small stool by the sink. Some parents also have a chart by the sink so that your child can mark off each time they wash their hands.
Explain why hand washing is important
You don’t want to scare your child about germs. But you do want them to be aware of the importance of hand washing. The MRSA website has a wonderful video detailing the activities of Soapy the Germinator and why he washes his hands. Kids often absorb information more easily through visual aids, than via a parental lecture. You should try and encourage your child to wash their hands whenever you do.
You can also use this activity to highlight the dangers of water that’s too hot. If you start off the day with a good hand wash this procedure should become a second nature to your child.
Lather up
Some parents devise a song that can be used when you start training your child. It doesn’t matter how silly this ditty sounds as long as it includes all the steps for hand washing from filling the sink with water, to lathering up, rubbing the hands and then rinsing, and finally drying. You could cover your child’s hands with washable paint so that they learn for themselves how thorough they have to be in order to wash the paint away.
Training starts a lifetime habit
When you first start to train your child, make sure that they understand that hands should always be washed after a visit to the lavatory, before a meal and also when they have finished playing. If you have a family pet, you should also ensure that hands are washed after playing with the pet. It’s surprising how many adults don’t appear to wash their hands after these processes, and a study published by the BBC revealed that ‘faecal matter can be found on just over a quarter of our hands.’ Early training should go a long way towards eradicating this problem.
Looking after nursery age kids
Once your child is ready to attend pre-school, make sure that they understand the importance of hand washing on arrival at the school. Ask the teacher if this ritual is carried out as a matter of course. By now your kids should understand that they should never touch any food until they have washed their hands, and they can avoid germs by keeping their hands clean.
