Tips to teach your child good hygiene

For the first six weeks with a newborn, you’re probably not going anywhere, anyway. Which means you only need to bath them once a day, even every second day. Start by using just water or non-fragranced cream, which is less dehydrating, until bathtime becomes more regular and you can use all those irresistible-smelling baby toiletries.

Also keep an eye on your baby’s nails and trim them if they get too long to avoid them scratching themselves. Hand mittens will stop them from touching and scratching their adorable, smoochy faces, because as you know, everything goes straight to the mouth! Make sure to wash mittens every few days. Any visiting relatives should keep a distance of at least two metres and not touch little ones’ hands or faces… however kissable.

Since this is the phase of potty training, messy water play, flushing the toilet, bathing and brushing teeth (all under supervision, of course!), it’s more important than ever to teach your bundle of joy good hygiene habits. They might put up a fight at first, so here are some tips to making handwashing fun:

• Sing along to their favourite song to ensure that your child lathers up and washes for the full 20 seconds.
• Make a game of it! Every thorough, handwashing routine has a few steps: 1. rubbing hands together 2. washing the top of  hands 3. washing between each finger 4. circling around the thumbs 5. washing under the fingernails by placing fingertips in their palms 6. drying and using hand sanitiser. Give each step a fun name like: keep warm by the fire, pet the dog, do the butterfly, milk the cow, make a house, spider legs etc.
• Grab some pepper and glitter, dust into water and show them how “germs” stick to their hands.
• Fun stickers and friendly ink stamps are a good way to check that little ones are washing their hands.
• When coughing or sneezing, teach them to cover their mouths with a tissue or flexed elbow. Immediately discard the tissue into a closed bin and sanitise their hands. Show them how germs spread by adding water to a spray bottle. Sneezing into your elbow could also be tuned into a cute ‘dabbing’ dance.

By the time your child turns six, they should be completely independent when it comes to their hygiene habits, and keeping clean is no longer such a messy business. They’ll be able to bath themselves, brush their hair and teeth, wash and dry their own face and use the toilet without any help. Just be sure to keep encouraging this independent behaviour.

When it comes to social distancing to help slow down the spread of germs, be prepared for a  few frowny faces. Kids love playing and will ultimately start roughhousing or high fiving which could increase the risk of germs spreading. Be cautious, especially since symptoms take a few days to surface. To curb the boredom, take advantage of the ‘virtual world of playing’ we live in and arrange online dance-offs, virtual movie parties or online games in groups. Playing outside is not off limits, just be sure to thoroughly wash play structures. Need advice to beat the boredom for good? Check out our 35 incredibly fun indoor activities here.

If you still have any worries, remember that older kids love being informed and will feed off your emotional cues. So, the most important thing to do is to be honest, stay calm, ease their fears and be factual. Tell them that doctors are working on a vaccine and that we know most kids only experience mild symptoms.