Convincing Children to Wash their Hands

How many times do you hear your child run to the bathroom and then run back out without washing hands? Some will even, run their hands under the water and come running out without using soap! We have a few ideas that should help to get your kids a little more interested in washing after using the restroom!

For smaller children, ask them to start washing their hands while singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or the ABC song (same tune!). Have them keep rubbing their hands together with soap and rinsing until the song is over. This makes it fun and helps them to understand how long hand washing should be done.

Sometimes all it takes to get a child interested in washing is letting them choose their own fun soap. Our kids love foam soaps and will wash "just to washâ€" with that foamy goodness. Others may prefer novelty soaps, such as the glycerin soaps that have plastic toys in the middle. I save my foam hand dispenser that works with any kind of hand soap and just transfer the new hand soap over if it's not in a foam dispenser.

Take a few soaps and melt them in a pot over the stove. Pour the soap in fun candy molds and let them harden. Let your child pick the one he or she wants to use.

Look online for a "Blue LED Faucet Light." These are fairly inexpensive and lots of fun. Simply unscrew the end of your faucet and screw the faucet light in. Every time you turn on the faucet, the water turns bright blue! This is especially fun to watch when the bathroom light is off.

Get an old fashioned push bell, you know, the kind you would find on the counter and push to make the bell ring? Place it on the sink. Tell your children that every time they wash their hands, they can ring the bell. This sounds like a small thing, but when a child is only allowed to do something at a €ścertain€ť time, it becomes fun!

When using public restrooms, make a big deal about washing your own hands and never walk out without washing because you are in a hurry. They will pick up on it. Kids always do! Always keep a stool for little ones to climb up on in the bathroom, so they don't have an excuse to skip it. I keep a plastic stepping stool in each of my bathrooms for such use.