Proper Hand Washing Techniques

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Proper Hand Washing Techniques

Proper hand washing techniques can save your little one's life!

You may be wondering why I decided to have a page discussing proper hand washing techniques. Hand washing may seem like something easy to do, but most people do not wash their hands properly. And unfortunately, this trait can be transferred down to your little ones. You can encourage your little ones to wash their hands by leading by example. Start washing your hands correctly by doing the following:

Use clean running water. It does not matter if it is cold or hot.
Lather up (by rubbing your hands together) for 20 seconds. Any soap will do. The main things to remember are to lather up for 20 seconds, and to scrub the backs of the hands, wrists, in between fingers, and under fingernails.
Not sure how long 20 seconds is? You can sing Happy Birthday 2 times or the ABCs in this amount of time. The mistakes that most people make are washing their hands for 1 or 2 seconds or fails to use soap, which is needed to kill germs.
Rinse your hands in clean running water. STOP! Don’t touch the faucet just yet.
Dry your hands with a paper towel.
Now turn off the water with the same paper towel that you used to dry your hands. STOP! Don’t throw that paper towel away just yet.
Open the bathroom door with the paper towel. Now you can throw the paper towel away.

This is the proper hand washing technique if you are using a public restroom. If you are home, you can use a clean hand towel instead of a paper towel. Paper towels however are better to use to cut down the spread of germs. But this can be costly and not environmentally friendly. So you can get away with using clean hand towels instead of paper towels. In my home, everyone has their own hand towel, and everyday I change their towel. The key is that if you are going to use a hand towel, make sure to change it everyday.

Hand Sanitizing

Although washing you hands with good ol’ soap and water is the best way to get rid of bad bacteria and germs, using a hand sanitizer is the next best thing if a clean bathroom is not available. An alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol content is best at killing most harmful bacteria and viruses. But remember: if your little ones’ hands have dirt and yucky stuff on them, hand sanitizing will not get rid of all of it; only soap and clean water will work.

To properly use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer you should:

Apply the handsanitizer to the palm of one hand. (Apply enough to the palm of your hand to wet your hands completely.)
Rub the sanitizer over all your hands and fingers until hands are dry.

It is ok to use alcohol-based hand sanitizers on children. It is a great alternative when soap and water isn't available. The main thing to remember is to rub your hands until the hand sanitizer completely dries before allowing your child touch anything.

Also, if your little one is as curious as my son, you will want to make sure to put the hand sanitizer in a place that he/she cannot get to it.

Leading By Example

Remember: if we want our kiddies to start washing their hands, we must also wash our hands. Kids are very observant, and they look up to us parents. They like doing what we do, because that makes them feel independent. So we must give them positive examples by washing our hands when we should. We should wash our hands:

After using the toilet.
After changing diapers.
Before eating.
Before cooking.
After handling uncooked meat and poultry.
After blowing our nose.
After sneezing or coughing.
After touching animals.
After playing outside.

Also, make sure to teach your children not to touch their eyes, mouth, or nose. This too can spread germs to your little ones.

Lastly, unfortunately we can’t bubble wrap our little ones to protect them. But by teaching them the proper ways to wash their hands, you are helping them to protect themselves from up to 80% of harmful germs and viruses.

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