Tricks to Show Your Kids How to Wash Their Hands Correctly

This is the final day of National Handwashing Awareness Week. For adults who don’t spend a lot of time with children, this celebration might seem a little unnecessary, but to parents who are constantly trying to get their kids to wash their hands before eating, after going to the restroom and when they come inside from playing, this is an extremely important event.

As always, we at Altus ER have some effective tricks up our sleeve to help you parents instill good hygiene habits onto your kids, handwashing can seem a boring chore for kids, but we are here to help you make it less of a chore and more of a fun activity.

Why Should You Teach Your Kids Proper Handwashing Techniques?

Proper handwashing is the best way to prevent children from becoming sick and spreading germs. Teaching your kids to wash their hands with soap and water will help prevent them from contracting the following illnesses:

• The common cold and flu virus

• Hepatitis A

• Meningitis

• Bronchiolitis

• And many types of diarrhea

Are your Hands Really Clean?

A study conducted by researchers at the Michigan State University in 2013, revealed that an alarming 95% of people do not properly wash their hands.

The CDC’s guidelines for washing hands include the following steps:

• Wet your hands with water (temperature does not matter).

• Lather your hands with soap, make sure you apply soap to the back of your hands as well.

• Scrub your hands for 20 seconds or more, make sure to scrub the back of your hands, wrists, in between fingers and under the fingernails.

• Rinse with plenty of water.

• Dry your hands thoroughly with a clean towel or air dryer.

Sing a Song

The CDC recommends you sing happy birthday twice when you are scrubbing your hands to ensure you do it for at least 20 seconds, it’s probably not the best song to have your kids sing every day as they might expect a birthday present and cake.

You can create your own song about washing hands, or you can use a popular one that is sung to the tune of “Row your Boat” it goes like this: “wash, wash, wash your hands, wash them nice and clean. Scrub the fronts and scrub the backs and scrub the in-between” You will need to sing this at least twice.

Buy Fun Soaps

Kids love to play, so why not let them play with soap? Buying fun shape soap bars or liquid soap that have their favorite characters on the label is a good way to get kids to want to wash their hands.

Get Creative

Here are some more fun and creative ideas to get your kids to want to wash their hands:

• Mix some glitter with water in a spray bottle, spray their hands with this mixture then have them wash it off, if you have more than one kid turn it into a friendly competition to see who can get the glitter off first.

• Teach your kids how to blow soap bubbles, have them later and scrub their hands properly and then show them how they can make a circle with their thumb and forefinger and blow bubbles.

• Buy them a water safe toy and have them give it a proper wash.

• Make a game where you task your kids to get rid of pesky germs by scrubbing their hands, make funny noises and in the end, say bye, bye germs.

Teaching your children to properly wash their hands is something that will safeguard them for life, however, regardless of how careful you are with their hygiene, there will be times when they will get sick, and that is when Altus Emergency Centers will be there to take care of your little ones.

Altus Emergency Centers is here for you during the worst of the flu season and the rest of year 24/7.  We hope you don’t fall victim to the flu virus this year, but if you do, and you show any of the above signs, visit your nearest Altus ER.  We will be here to nurse you and your loved ones back to health and enjoying the December holidays.