How to Teach Your Kids Healthy Hygiene

Children love to explore and discover their world through sight, touch, and even taste. While you don’t want to hinder their learning and development, their desire to touch and taste almost everything can make them vulnerable to harmful germs. As parents, you are your children’s first teachers. Help them learn healthy hygiene habits without teaching them to be afraid of germs.

Establish hand-washing routines.

The simple act of hand washing is one of the most important things you can teach your children. The trick to healthy hand-washing behavior is to use proper technique, as well as to wash hands throughout the day, including before eating and after using the restroom. Try making up a song or game that makes it fun for kids to learn how to wash their hands well. Use toilet training and meal times as opportunities to establish hand washing as a routine.

Teach them about cold and flu hygiene.

Sneezing, coughing, and mucus are some of the quickest ways to transfer disease-causing germs. If your children are ill with a cold or flu, show them how to cover their mouths when they cough and blow their noses using a tissue. Then, reinforce the importance of washing their hands afterward. Explain that it will help them get better and help keep everyone else healthy too.

Let them be your kitchen assistant.

Keeping a clean kitchen is critical to keeping harmful germs away. Let your children help you in the kitchen as you prepare meals so you can teach them good kitchen habits. First, make sure your hands, counters, and utensils are clean before preparing any food. Then, enjoy a meal together and encourage them to help you clean afterward, including drying the dishes after you rinse them.

Make good dental health fun.

Children love to model the behavior they see parents or older siblings do. Turn brushing your teeth into an activity you can do together. Most dentists recommend brushing your teeth for 2 minutes, focusing on each quadrant of your mouth for approximately 30 seconds in order to help eliminate harmful germs. Turn on a timer to help keep track of time. To make the time more fun, try making funny faces or encouraging your children to open their mouths wide like a hippo or a lion and clean all the hard-to-reach places.

Learn about germs together.

Not all germs are harmful. In fact, some can even be helpful. In order to make sure your kids don’t become overly fearful of germs, help them understand the differences between types of germs, as well as how good hygiene can help protect them from harmful germs. Commander Safeguard can help kids understand the importance of good hygiene, as well as how Safeguard with GermShield+ protects against 3 of the 4 types of harmful germs longer than any other antibacterial soap.