As parents, most of us can't wait for our kids to head back to school. Well guess what, neither can all those creepy, crawly, germs! To best prevent giving all those nasty bugs a free ride around town, the CDC recommends that you make handwashing a FAMILY activity! Keep reading to learn how.
Teach
Handwashing is a simple, but vital task that can actually be pretty fun for your kids. Help build form habits by using a handwashing song, rhyme, or even a little dance!
If you have older children, fill them in on the statistics. Handwashing is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick and spreading illness to others. In fact, handwashing:
Reduces the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by 31%
Reduces diarrheal illness in people with weakened immune systems by 58%
Reduces respiratory illnesses, like colds, in the general population by 21%
Less illness, means less time spent away from all those fun activities that they enjoy.
Remind
Forming habits can take awhile, so it's important that you make vigilance and diligence the name of your game. To make things easier, work on fitting handwashing into your daily routine! About to eat? Time to wash! Played outside? Time to wash! Spending time with a pet? You guessed it, time to wash!
Your kiddo may get dry hands after washing, especially in the winter time, so make sure to use a gentle soap, and include a gentle lotion into your routine as well. Our pediatricians would be happy to give you recommendations!
Lead
Your children watch you as an example for everything, and, unfortunately, that means that they may pick up those poor handwashing habits. The CDC cites a recent study that showed that only 31% of men and 65% of women washed their hands after using a public restroom. Scary, right? We really need to step up our game for our children's sake! Set a phone reminder, carry around some hand sanitizer, and make clean hands your thing!
