How to teach personal hygiene to children

Creating good personal hygiene habits for children is a crucial part of their early growth and development years. It not only keeps children happy and healthy but it also reduces the risk of illness and can begin to teach children valuable life skills.

Ensuring positive personal hygiene habits are used early in a child’s development can help boost their immune system whilst teaching them fun and informative ways of keeping clean daily.

Some of the top personal hygiene regimes you can start introducing to your child include:

1. Washing hands
2. Brushing teeth
3. Bathing
4. Toilet hygiene

Why is teaching my child good hygiene habits important?

Most germs are spread through hand contact, and toddler’s and children’s active lifestyles make it easy for them to encounter harmful germs from various surfaces throughout their day. Ensuring hygiene standards are maintained regularly can prevent your child and others from falling sick.

It is recommended that children should wash their hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds to ensure the removal of any unwanted bacteria.

Habit forming is at the centre of all hygiene routines, as it enables your child to maintain general hygiene practices consistently. It’s important to prepare your child for later life and help them understand the importance of keeping their bodies healthy.

Why not take a look at some fun and easy daily hygiene habits you can teach your child to keep them fit and healthy whilst minimising the transmission of germs:

Hygiene teaching techniques for children

Show and tell

Whether you’re washing hands, brushing teeth, or bathing, sometimes, your child may need a bit of encouragement to get proper hygiene techniques right. It’s best to keep the actions simple and avoid any complex movements by showing them how you would wash yourself and getting them to copy. You can also try talking your child through each step of the routine to help them understand what to do and why they’re doing it.

Top tip: For younger children, try using a silly voice for more fun!

Repetition

Repetition is at the core of habit-forming as it helps instil a routine associated with hygiene. It’s important to associate these hygiene techniques with a time of day or an activity to get your child used to the where and when. This is especially true for practising good hygiene habits such as washing hands before and after eating, after playing with toys, or after using the toilet.

Use a timer

Making sure you’re practising good hygiene for the appropriate amount of time is important to keep clean daily. It is recommended from as little as ages 2 – 3, children can start to be taught good oral hygiene habits. Setting a timer to a minimum of 2 minutes for brushing is important to make sure any harmful bacteria and plaque are removed.

Top tip: Why not try using a fun 2-minute song to brush along with your child?

Encourage praise – No matter how big or small

Making sure your child is rewarded as they follow these hygiene habits can help further motivate them to keep following their routine. Even if it’s as simple as washing their hands, words of encouragement such as “well done!” can help ensure your child’s hygiene regime is maintained consistently and is seen as a positive action in their daily life.

Make it fun!

One of the most important ways to teach personal hygiene to your child is to make it fun! For toddlers and young children, keeping them engaged is important so they follow through with a full hygiene routine and want to partake. Using fun soaps and toys in the bath, using a cuddly toy to demonstrate brushing teeth, or singing a song or rhyme can be great ways of keeping your child engaged and associating proper hygiene practice with play.

What can I use in my child’s hygiene routine?

Keeping up with the daily routine of your child’s hygiene can be challenging, and using the right effective products for this is just as important as when, where, and how they’re used.

To help with day-to-day care, for babies from 3 months old, Milton’s Antibacterial Hand Sanitiser can be used to kill 99.9% of germs. Whether your child is in school, at the park, or at home playing, for children 3 years+, Antibacterial Hand Gel can be used to help sterilise hands on the go.

To keep dirty surfaces and baby/toddler accessories clean, plant-based Antibacterial Surface Wipes are perfect for killing bacteria, fungi and viruses.

With over 70 years of experience in baby wellness, at Milton, we’re experts in providing essential hygiene products designed with childrens’ and babies’ health and wellbeing in mind.

Shop the Milton range at Dunnes Stores, Amazon, Tesco, SuperValu, Boots and other major supermarkets.