Mothercare Blog

The idea of teaching kids to be hygienic may seem very simple but getting those little ones to learn anything is a constant battle. Following rules is something kids love to hate. Reading your mind here, aren’t we?

So what is it that one can do to ensure that children follow the rules of hygiene by the word? The very first thing is to have them start young, cause as they say, “habits learnt as kids stay for life.”

Washing Hands

As simple as this may seem, it isn’t always so. Children tend to have a habit of just rinsing their hands and running off, instead of washing them properly for 15 to 20 seconds as recommended by experts.

Here’s the trick! Sprinkle some glitter on your kids’ hands and challenge them to wash it off. They’d take up the challenge in a beat and washing off the glitter will take at least 15 seconds.

Mission accomplished!

Covering the Nose When Sneezing

Take your kids’ water paints and get creative yourself. Put a dollop of paint in your hands (secretly) and pretend to sneeze and go about touching a few things in the house. Your kids will see the paint being smeared on to the objects and realise that this is exactly how germs spread. Just make sure the paint is washable!

Not a bad idea, is it?

Oral Hygiene

Time to tackle the act of oral hygiene now! Actions do speak louder than words and as we all know, kids love to emulate adults. Whether it’s trying on their father’s shoes or mother’s lipstick, kids are always trying to do grown-up things.

So make it a point to brush your teeth and gargle after meals, when your kids are watching you. Soon enough they’ll be wanting to do the same things too.

As simple as that!

Make it fun

No matter what your age, making things fun ALWAYS works! Even for adults. So you can only imagine how effective it’d be with kids.

Children love their cartoon and book characters and they’d love it even more if these characters came home to them as their toothbrush and soap. Ninja and Barbie toothbrushes and Disney soaps are bound to make them want to spend more time cleansing and soaping. Letting them choose their own personal hygiene products will make them much more likely to want to use them on a regular basis.

So there it is! We know parenting can be a really tough job and as much as we love our little ones they can be a tough bunch to handle at times.

We’ve just tried to make it easy for you!