Cebu City -- Sensory play in children is essential for their development. They can learn the different kinds of textures there are with the use of their hands. As parents, we want our children to be able to play outdoors, mingle with other children, and to use their hands to feel their environment. However, we would need to keep in mind that our children are susceptible to carrying an estimated 1,500 bacteria on each hand, each time they touch a surface or another person’s hand.
In today’s situation, it is extremely important to teach your child how to properly wash their hands to protect them from getting COVID-19. This helps them develop the habit of washing their hands. In this article, we will be sharing the benefits and the proper hand washing techniques that parents and children should do.
The benefits of washing hands in children
Young children are very active and could sometimes be unaware of how much bacteria they carry nor how dirty their hands are. Teaching your child how to properly wash their hands is beneficial as this prevents them from contracting infections through their eyes, nose, and mouth.
Parents should keep a close eye on them and educate them on the dangers of touching their eyes, nose, and mouth with unclean hands after every activity involving their hands. Create a habit for your children by letting them wash their hands:
- After using the toilet
- Before and after meals
- When touching garbage
- After falling down
- After touching pets
- When their hands are visibly dirty
Proper hand washing technique
It is safe to say that everyone would know how to wash their hands with soap and running water. However, not many people practice the proper hand washing technique and apply it to their children. It is recommended that children know the best way of hand washing to ensure that they are doing it the correct and proper way to eliminate any bacteria left on their hands.
Let us look at some easy-to-follow steps from UNICEF that you and your child could do together and make this session fun and engaging:
Step 1: Wet your hands with running water.
Step 2: Apply enough soap to cover wet hands.
Step 3: Scrub all the surfaces of the hands; back of the hands, palms, between fingers and under nails.
Step 4: When that is done, rinse thoroughly with running water.
Step 5: Once all soap is clear from hands, dry hands with a clean hand cloth or paper towel.
It is recommended that you and your child should wash your hands with soap for at least 20-30 seconds.
Making hand washing engaging for children
Children may get hasty or find it hard to follow through during this learning session. Parents need to find ways to make it fun and easy so that they can enjoy washing their hands and develop a good habit as well.
There are various ways which we can make hand washing fun for our children, one, is by using different soaps with different scent or colors. You can let them pick which soap they want to use. Another is by letting them sing a song, you can use the Happy Birthday song twice or make your own 20 second tune.
Handwashing can also be a great way of educating your kids about germs and how doing such action can prevent them from getting the bacteria. You can try coloring their hands with washable crayons to represent the germs show them how easily it can be removed, or you can start a rewards system by using sticker charts. This are just some of the ways in which we can engage our kids in hand washing.
If your child is not tall enough to reach the sink, have them stand up on a stool and place any kind of soap you have at home within their arms reach. You could also suggest singing nursery rhymes with them to take their mind off the duration of the handwashing process to make this learning session engaging. // ND II Suzette Jade M. Salado, RND and Jewelle Chua, The Memoriter Writing Service intern
