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Though the odd sniffle is said to be good for a child's immune system, at this time of year it often seems like their noses never stop running. In an early childhood environment, where children come into contact with many other children – sharing toys, furniture and bathrooms – an increased risk of coughs and colds is inevitable. And one thing that toddlers are good it is getting dirty. Whether it's eating with filthy hands or wiping their nose on their sleeve, this is the perfect time to start teaching children about healthy hygiene routines.
Hand washing
Hand washing is the best method to protect from contagious diseases, so teaching toddlers to wash hands after going to the toilet, handling dirty objects and before eating, is important to instil.
Using clean water and soap, teach your child to rubs their hands together to create a lather, covering fingers palms and back of hands, rinse, and dry completely. If you can make it more fun children are more likely to get involved, so have them sing a song while they do it: "This is the way we wash our hands, wash our hands, wash our hands. This is the way we wash our hands and wash the germs away." Or for a well-known alternative, 'Happy Birthday' is also about the right length!
For a great game that explains the importance of washing hands, sprinkle glitter on your child's hands and challenge them to wash the glitter off with soap and water. Being sticky, the glitter will take around 30 seconds to wash off. Then explain that they should scrub and wash their hands just as they did with the glitter, every time.
Coughing and sneezing
As the most common way for germs to be transferred, is it is important to learn etiquette for coughs and sneezes from an early age. Explain that coughs need to be covered up with a hand, and sneezes go in a tissue to catch the germs, then that tissue goes in the bin. Though younger children don't always recognise the bodily cues that there is a sneeze coming, by age two they should start to remember the signs.
You can always practice these routines with a teddy bear who has a 'cold', or you can have pretend sneezes to better illustrate the hygiene process. For a fabulous visual method to show the importance of covering your sneezes, pretend to sneeze and when you do, cover your hands in washable paint. Then go around the room as you usually would – touching things, opening doors, picking up toys. Your child will quickly see the transfer of germs and how far they get!
Make it a routine
Children thrive on a routine, and teaching hygiene is no different. Make hand washing before meals a regular step and ensure teeth are always brushed before bed, and before long these things become a part of a child's daily life.
Also let them see your routine, if they see you taking care of yourself and following the basic hygiene steps, they will be much more likely to follow too. You can hit home the importance of good hygiene habits by playing a quick game of Good Habit, Bad Habit. Write 10 good hygiene habits (such as washing hands) and 10 bad hygiene habits (such as wiping nose on a sleeve) on small pieces of paper, then fold each piece and place in a bowl. Children can take turns to pull a piece of paper out of the bowl and guess whether it is a good hygiene habit or a bad hygiene habit.
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