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Welcome to The Foam Box,
where we believe that washing should be fun!
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Teaching Children to Wash their Hands
Handwashing is the activity that has
the single largest impact on reducing the spread of disease. You and your
family can forget about antibacterial this,
that, and the other, and scary adverts for household cleaners that tell you
about the millions of germs lurking on telephones and other places
you know that you all touch, if you all follow the simple practice of washing
your hands regularly. This alone will drastically lower the risk of pneumonia,
diarrhoea, colitis, boils and pimples, urinary tract infections, sore throats,
jaundice, ear infections, infected wounds, and other infections.
Helping Children Learn The Importance of Hand Washing
You may agree completely with the value of hand washing but how do you ensure
that your children regularly wash their hands? Isn't it just one more thing
to nag them about? With the tips below you should be able to share with your
children information about hand washing in such a way that they want to wash
their hands and remember to do so. This is important because you will not always
be there and if they only wash their hands to earn a sticker or other reward,
they may well soon forget if you aren't around, and it is a small thing that
is easy for other adults to forget to remind them to do.
- Be enthusiastic. What?
About hand washing? Yes, about hand washing. It's fun working up a lather
with the soap, and if children seem to be a little
too enthusiastic with the amount of foam they create this is fine. Talk
about the germs getting scrubbed off and washed down the drain hole, "They
don't
stand a chance when Ben is on the scene!". Make up a hand washing song
to the tune of a well known nursery rhyme. If they are old enough teach them
how to
wash their hands like a brain surgeon.
- Children learn primarily by
observation and this means that they should
see you wash your hands through out the day. To be fair, if you don't then
there isn't any reason why they should. If they are still of an age where
they accompany you to the toilet stand them up on the lid so that they can
watch
you wash your hands afterwards. When you start to prepare food always let
them see you wash your hands first and comment that that is what you are
doing.
Be sure to wash your hands before you put the shopping away or after watering
the garden.
- Remind your
children whenever hand washing is appropriate, and if necessary
wash yours with them.
- Once they are old enough to understand talk
about the germs that you are
washing off and where they might have come from and where they could go
"Because we have been playing in the garden this afternoon and there
are germs
in
the
soil",
"Because
we are going to eat our tea and we don't want germs on our food". As children
get older you can gradually increase the information that you share,
for example
that germs that are left on your hands can get in your throat or ears and
make
them sore, that germs might be passed on to someone else and make them
poorly, that germs
love
to
get into food because they can eat it and grow big and strong. Once children
enter the 'gory' phase be sure to share full details of the type of infections
that linger on people's hands and talk about the sort of symptoms they
can lead to
- Make the soap itself an incentive.
Unlike other rewards this is a direct link, "I want to wash my hands
because I love the smell of my soap" or
"Great, now I can wash my hands and get nearer to winning the toy inside
it". This
type of incentive reinforces the link between different activities and
handwashing, and is something that can be life long. After all I only use
soaps that I love
and I am a grown up! Each time the special soap has nearly run out it is
time to chose another one. A special towel featuring a favourite subject
for each
child can also help if
they are
having
difficulty
remembering to wash when ever they should. These little touches show that
you take their responsibility for their own hygiene seriously, and can be
very
empowering. Look in The Foam
Box shop for ideas of soaps that are fun to
use.
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Once you have washed your child it is up
to you how you dry it |
