Setting up a routine of healthy habits when your kids are young can create habits that last all their lives.
Teaching your child good hygiene habits and health goes hand in hand. But this can be tricky when you have kids who are fussy about routines. Until they have grown and can take better care of their health and hygiene, their well-being is in your hands. This will seem like a challenge, but there are ways to make this journey more fun and easy for both you and your kids. Get started on this journey with these hygienic grooming habits for your child.
Teach Your Child These Hygienic Grooming Habits
1. Basics First
We hear this all the time but the importance of hand washing cannot be stressed enough; especially to your child. This is a basic hygiene routine that includes washing your hands with soap before and after eating, after using the bathroom. This routine can be made fun by making up a song with your child that indicates hand-washing time. Fun right? Definitely is for your child.
2. Make it fun
We all know that kids have a very short attention span and memory. But what better way to get them to remember healthy hygiene than to make it fun. Incorporate their favorite animals, activities or even cartoon characters in their daily grooming activities. Make sounds, dance; whatever it is to make it fun for them to look forward to and remember. You may even find them reminding you of these healthy hygiene habits.
3. Be the First to do it
Children observe a lot of things and will usually repeat what they see their parents doing. This is a chance for you to invite them to wash their hands or brush their teeth with you. You may also like to join them or even include the whole family when they do their routine.
4. Explain the importance of good hygiene
Kids can better understand the importance of good hygiene when its importance is explained. This can also be made to be fun, although you don’t have to include all the gory details about germs and diseases, you can make them understand the basic ideas of health through illustrations using their favourite cartoon characters or toys.
5. Make it interesting
There are a lot of visual and interactive resources that can teach your kids how to take care of themselves. These range from apps where they have to dress, bathe and feed a character. You may also try story books that teach them how to take care of themselves. Less pressure on you for sure.
6. Make it special
One way to keep healthy hygiene routines going is to make it special and engaging for your child. This can include buying soap that is represented by their favorite advert or cartoon character; even buying toothpaste with their favorite flavor. Another great way to make it special is to buy matching wash clothes and toothbrush. You know your child better, you know what will make him/her happy and engaged.
7. Repeat this every day
When these tips are done repeatedly, it becomes a part of their daily lives. They will do these without you even having to remind them.
Making the journey as fun and engaging as possible is the core principle in making it easier to teach your kids good hygiene habits. Start with the simple things, make them fun and special, join in the fun and repeat these daily, and soon you will have a healthy child who can groom him/herself daily.
YOu can take these tips a step further and come up with your own routines and keep your child on their toes so anticipating daily grooming time becomes a more than welcome part of their learning. If you do have tips of your own, share it with us, we’d love to hear from you.
This post was sponsored by Dettol, visit their website for more tips on family hygiene and healthy living.
Hi, I’m Shan. I’m a wife, mom to 3 kids and a businesswoman who works from home and gets very little sleep at night. My days are filled with dirty diapers and toddler tantrums, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. I am in the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Forbes Africa 2019 and just recently launched my start-up – MomSays.
Lovely tips My oldest loves brushing her teeth simply because Ive never pushed her to do it I made it fun just like youve said in your post I think thats key
We always modeled things for our kids. Things like brushing our teeth – it definitely helped.
I always try to make it fun, I think that is the best tip ever, I always sing to her and after I give her a sticker, she loves them. Thanks for the great tip! ^_^
Making healthy hygiene fun really helps kids get in the habit of washing hands, brushing teeth, etc. Reading books about good hygiene always helps, too.
It’s so important to lead by example when it comes to kids. The best way to teach them to do something is to do it ourselves.
I’m a dentist, so my kids learned how to wash hands the medical way. People laugh when they see my kids washing past their wrists and massaging the cuticle area of their hands.
Great ideas! Songs really do work very well.
Yes to starting them early! It’s the only way to really get them in the habit before they realize it. My kids are older and even now I still have to remind them!
It is always fun to add a little song or a rhyme to hand washing and teeth brushing! That way they know they’re doing it for the correct length of time. I did that when my kids were little! Showing them by example is the best way 🙂
Leading by example and trying to always keep it fun is the best way to get kids to incorporate good habits into their daily routines!
These are very important to teach and drill in! Hygiene is something all kids should have an understanding of.
these are some great ideas. We used a lot of visuals like books and movies too!
These are all important tips to take into consideration. It always helps when they see us do things first.
These are tried and true tips! Teaching the importance of hygiene early on is something that every parent (or guardian) should do.
I kinda want to forward this blog post to one of my nephews. Lol! My brother is so lax about a lot of stuff, but I think this one should honestly be at the top of the list. Because, peeeeuuuu.
I love these tips. It is very important to teach kids about hygiene. Often times I see people walk out of the restrooms without washing their hands.
I also have made sure to teach my son how to brush his teeth too.
Awesome tips! I struggle with my 8 year old brushing his teeth. For some reason he just hates it and never wants to do it. Thankfully he will brush them daily if I do it for him. At this point I don’t care, as long as they are brushed.
It is so important that parents teach their children good hygiene habits. I always made sure my boys washed their hands every time they went into the bathroom before they left it. Bathing is also a good one to teach them young too. Thanks for sharing.
These are great tips! I wish I had thought of some of these when my daughter was a little younger.
Great tips! It’s so important for kids to learn healthy hygiene habits, especially early on. I’ve been teaching my kids since the beginning. It’s very important to me that they learn and know it all as early as possible!
These are all great tips! Especially do it first. Kids learn by example so thats so important!
This is important and these are the first things that I taught to my kids.
These are some great tips! I have the opposite problem with my daughter. She wants to brush 528299 times a day! I guess it’s a scencery kinda thing for some kiddos.
Thanks for the tips. MY kids are so used to brushing their teeth that if we put them in bed with teeth unbrushed, they would get up in the middle of the night and do it, lol.
What a great post! Handwashing and hygiene is so very important. Thanks for sharing.
I always found that leading by example works best! Right before I wanted to get my kids to start brushing their teeth, I started brushing mine in front of them and explained what i was doing. It must have worked because they are way too keen on brushing their teeth, lol!
I think good hygiene habits are important to have and you can never start learning them too early!! Great post!!
#5 is so important. Well, at least with my kids it is. 🙂
These are some great tips! I seriously believe in repetition, after a while the kids pick it up and it’s fun to watch them do it themselves.
These are definitely some great tips! Thanks for sharing these!
My oldest became obsessed with brushing his teeth and washing his hands when he was almost 2 and wouldn’t put down a toothbrush ever. Guess I couldn’t complain though! lol
When you make it fun – you just know they’ll be hook on it for a long time!