How to wash your hands for kids comes with some unique and often unexpected challenges. Toddlers washing hands has been one big frustration in my life. The biggest frustration with it is public bathrooms. When you have a handful of kids trying to wash their hands and you have to hold them superman style to reach the soap dispenser. Then mid pump some person selfishly chooses to dry their hands with the air dryer. At this time your noise sensitive child suspended mid air starts screaming and suddenly refuses to wash their hands. Public bathrooms are the worst when trying to promote positive toddler hand washing.

Importance of washing hands for kids

The first hurdle on the importance of washing hands for kids is teaching kids when to wash hands and the benefits of washing hands. When it comes to toddler washing hands I keep the explanation of benefits as simple as possible. I find that with a child when you give a simple answer they get curious and come up with questions and interest that you don’t expect. See what they think and give them just a little bit more.

With the list of when to wash hands it feels like you will be washing toddler hands all day. I personally avoid hand sanitizer as much as is possible.

• Before cooking or preparing food
• Before eating meals and snacks
• After using the restroom
• After coming in contact with germs (coughing, sneezing and such)
• After feeding or touching animals
• When coming in contact with a person who is sick
• When coming back home

Toddlers washing hands

When it comes to toddlers washing hands it is the same process an adult uses. The huge difference is the drama and fanfare associated with the process. Since we are washing toddler hands about 52 times a day it is worthwhile to have a good sink set up at home. I get it… space is limited and we have to work with what we have. Make as much of the process available to your independent toddler as possible and it will pay off in relaxed hand washing.

• Step one: Rinse hands. Can your child reach the sink? Can they reach the water? Can they turn the water on AND off?

• Step two: Soap. To start with a young toddler I don’t mind so much if the soap is out of reach since they need a lot of assistance with the whole process. And they just keep pumping soap until its empty. As their ability to use an appropriate amount increases so does the access.

• Step three: Scrub the hands. Let them scrub their hands themselves. Will they miss spots? Yup they sure will. The cool thing about washing your hands 50 times a day means they get lots of reps in quick. They will actually be reasonably proficient pretty quick if you let them. Start where they are at and give them extra tips to work on over time (when they are up for it… not while they are in a melt down). When focusing on washing for 20 seconds find a chorus for a song you could enjoy singing all day long.

• Step four: Rinse hands. We keep the water off during the whole scrubbing process so they aren’t accidentally rinsed prematurely.

• Step five: Dry hands. Give the hands two shakes in the sink (this is half the kids favorite part so its a must). Keeping a drying option within reach is a must. When a child can complete the process themselves they feel more independent in the process.

Hand washing is one of the musts in life. If there is an option about hand washing you can give like which type of soap to use or how to dry hands it can help. Being able to laugh at the ridiculous public bathroom set ups also really helps. Like when the paper towel dispenser is 5 feet off the floor. Parenting needs lots of support and laughs.