By Jennifer McGohan
(Madison County, NY – Oct. 23, 2013) Let’s be honest, kids are adorable, but they are little germ factories. I did not fully get this until I had my own child and saw both myself and my husband getting sick every month. Colds, sore throats, or worse, the dreaded stomach bug.
My normally healthy husband had to take a few days of sick time from work, which never happened before. Children, with their cute little faces and smiles also spread germs like wildfire. So, while our children are young, we parents must step up to the plate and take steps to stop our kids from spreading germs using good handwashing!
Handwashing is one of the most important ways to prevent the spread of germs. Our kids rely on us to keep them clean. As they grow older, they need to learn how to care for their own personal hygiene. By teaching kids about personal hygiene and why it is important for their health, appearance and well-being, you’re teaching them a skill to use for the rest of their lives.
The soap you use is not as important as how you wash and scrub. Good handwashing helps to lower how many germs are on your hands that could make you sick. Kids should always use soap and water and spend about 20 seconds soaping up by rubbing their hands together to make soap bubbles. Also, handwashing is important before eating, after playing outside, and especially after touching animals (including pets). When out and about, carry an alcohol-based hand sanitizer to use when soap and water are not readily available, especially after touching shopping carts or escalator handrails.
Try the following activity for small kids up to second grade: Have at least two children get their hands dirty by digging around in dirt for a few minutes, return indoors and look at their hands through a magnifying glass. Next, one washes their hands with just water while the other washes with water and soap. Again, look at their hands through the magnifying glass to see how much soap really helps remove the dirt. Now, tell them that germs are just like the dirt, except you can’t see them. This teaches the importance of washing their hands with soap.
Try another activity that demonstrates how germs spread. Place flour on their fingers and hands, then show how when surfaces are touched, the “germs” are spread. Then
place flour in your hand and fake a sneeze into it. Flour will fly in many directions and land on objects around you, and some will remain on your hand. Shake hands with someone and touch a table or countertop to transfer some of the flour onto those objects. Now, place another bit of flour into your hand and fake another sneeze, this time covering your hand and face with your arm. The child will see that much less flour makes it out of your hand. This shows how properly covering a sneeze or cough–along with washing your hands right after–can help to prevent the spread of germs.
Between school, daycare and other places, children bring home a lot of germs. Kids may not always know to wash their hands or how to escape contact with bad germs, and you can’t always rely on teachers and others to keep kids germ-free. However, you can minimize kids’ germs in your home by teaching them good handwashing to stay healthy.
For more handwashing tips, visit www.healthymadisoncounty.org.
Jennifer McGohan is a Public Health Educator with Madison County Department of Health.