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Tips for a Child's Personal Hygiene

Teaching your child tips for good personal hygiene is essential for healthy development. Personal hygiene is a life skill that can negatively impact your child's health if proper care is not taken at a young age. It can also impact his ability to make friends, since odors, dirt and a disheveled appearance are some of the external effects of poor personal hygiene. Make personal hygiene lessons entertaining so your child becomes engaged and retains the information that you teach him.

  1. Hand Washing

    • Hand washing is part of personal hygiene, and is a habit your child should get into while he is young. Hand washing keeps germs away, which keeps your child healthy. Although hand washing seems like a simple thing to do, children must do it properly. To effectively clean hands, the washing should last for 20 seconds. A tip for parents is to teach their children to sing a song or count to 20 while they wash their hands. The song "Happy Birthday" takes approximately 20 seconds to sing, so get your child in the habit of singing that song while he washes his hands. The goal is for him to keep the lather foaming until the end of the song, when he gets to rinse off the soap.

    Brushing Teeth

    • Good oral hygiene keeps your child's breath smelling nice, and his teeth cavity-free. Set a teeth brushing schedule at home so your child gets into the routine of brushing in the morning after breakfast and in the evening after dinner. It is also important that you child brush his teeth after eating foods with a high sugar content, since sugar left in the teeth for too long can cause cavities. Monitor that your child brushes properly, by moving the toothbrush back and forth, up and down and not missing any spots. Another tip for parents is to buy their child a motorized toothbrush that has a timer built into it, so that when the toothbrush stops moving, the child knows he can stop brushing his teeth.

    Bath Time

    • Many young children fight bath time for one reason or another. Parents must find a way to make bath time enticing so the child is interested and excited to get cleaned off. One idea is for parents to use bathtub toys to make the personal hygiene activity stimulating. Bath toys, such as dolls, figurines, floating boats and plastic water animals can give your child incentive to get in the tub. Additionally, parents should come up with post-bath routines to reward the child for taking his bath. An enjoyable activity, such as story time or 20 minutes of movie-watching can make it easier for parents to win the bath time battle, and meanwhile teach their kids the benefits of bathing regularly.

    Clean Hair

    • Children are active and, therefore, their hair becomes dirty and oily quickly. Teach your child the importance of washing his hair, so that dirt and oil does not build up and produce an odor or cause a scratchy scalp. Aside from hair-washing, hair care tips also include hair brushing to keep strands untangled and your child's hair remaining neat.

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