Everyone knows kids are dirt loving, germ sharing little critters and no one wants that brought into their homes. Children pick up so many germs from school that spread quickly from one person to another. Which then transfers to the kitchen bench and ultimately everywhere else. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a germaphobe. I welcome germs, just not all of them at once. Germs build up your immune system but only when in moderation. I have made a conscience effort about teaching my kids personal hygiene, like most parents do along with general cleaning that minimises the transmission of germs. Below I have shared my top tips for teaching children of all ages personal hygiene.

Personal Hygiene for Kids

1. TEACH THEM ABOUT GERMS 

This may seem obvious but if your child doesn’t understand what germs are and why they bad, they won’t see the importance in having to be clean. You can explain in as much or little detail as you like. You can simply tell them that even though we cannot see them, germs are bad and make you sick. Or if your child is older you can explain in much more detail about bacteria and how they evolve to make someone ill.

2. WASH YOUR HANDS

Show them how to wash their properly – scrub the palms, backs, in between the fingers and nails. It works well to sing a song like ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ so they wash for 20-30 seconds. If your kids don’t like the feeling of liquid soap or they use too much, the Dettol touch of foam hand wash is great. It is my preference of hand wash as it coats the hands without wastage and smells great.

3. WHEN TO WASH

What may seem like common sense to us is something new to new to them. They need to be reminded when and why they have to wash their hands. Often a sign in the bathroom or kitchen with pictures or basic words reminding them is a great way to prompt them to wash their hands and face. The most common times to wash are:

a) Before and after eating.
b) After using the toilet.
c) Before and after helping prepare food.
d) After coughing and sneezing.
e) After playing outside in the dirt.

4. MINIMISE THE SPREAD OF ILLNESS

It isn’t natural instinct for children to know that they have to cover their mouth when they cough and to sneeze into a tissue. Parents need to remind them and show them until it becomes second nature for them. Sneeze Safe is a great way to educate them about coughs, colds and flus. It shares the 3 key steps to reducing the spread of illness:

Catch It – Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze
Bin It – Throw the tissue away afterwards
Kill It – Wash your hands

5. WASH ~ BRUSH ~ SCRUB

Wash their bodies from head to toe in the shower or bath.
Brush their teeth. Start this from a young age to get them into the habit of doing it, you will still have to do the final run over to ensure they are clean but kids need practise to learn.
Scrub their hands.

There are so many ways to minimise the spread of germs around the home and while personal hygiene is a big one, keeping the germ hotspots around the house clean is just as important to reduce the risk of illness. When cleaning the toilets I like to use the Dettol Power & Pure wipes because I can just throw them away once contaminated with no risk of the germs spreading and they are thick enough I don’t have to worry my finger will tear through them. For the rest of the house (tables, benches, walls, etc) I use the Dettol multi-purpose spray because it kills 99.9% of germs and with so many spots for germs to hide I want to make sure I get as many as I can.

What tips do you have for teaching kids personal hygiene?

Disclosure: I received Dettol products for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.

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What Lurks Beneath: 3 Germs Currently Invading Your Kitchen

Our kitchens are an oasis of gastronomic possibilities, witnessing many of our trials, arguments, quiet breakdowns, pondering and failed experiments. They store memories of our lives in their cupboards and drawers, providing a sounding board for our first dessert triumphs or the completion of a 15 minute meal (though it beats me how anyone but Mr Oliver can cook those dishes so quickly), though for all of that, the humble kitchen is still subject to a host of harmful germs. As humanity develops antidotes and disinfectants for absolutely everything, it’s still best to wipe down your bench tops, wash the dishes and dispose of garbage, lest you create a plundering ground for these three bacteria surprises.

E. Coli

You may have heard of E.Coli (or as its mother calls it, eschericha coli), it’s a usually beneficial bacteria alive and kicking butt in the gut of many a mammal, including humans, preventing pathogens from infecting your intestine and assisting in the factory production of Vitamine K2. It sounds like a friendly, happy fellow, no? Ordinarily, you have nothing to fear from the e. coli family, though every unit has a black sheep and the strain O157:H7 (we know him as food poisoning) can have a butt kicking effect on anybody who is unlucky enough to ingest him. There are a few less common distance cousins to worry about, but we’ll focus on the H7 strain for now. Adults and older teenagers can usually shake off the effects of food poisoning completely in five to seven days, by drinking lots of water, eating unobtrusive meals and sleeping a lot; kids and the elderly are a different story, their immune systems are a bit weaker, so keep a close eye on them.

Salmonella

Almost everybody has enjoyed a run-in with the Salmonella strain at least once in their lives; associated with food poisoning (seems to be popular with the pathogenic crowd), salmonella attacks the elderly, young adults, children, adults, everyone really, though the extremity of its symptoms often relies on your current health status. After one recovers from the physical fun that isn’t salmonella (fatigue, vomiting, diarrhoea, dehydration, cramps, fever and headache), the bacteria can still hang around for a matter of weeks in human waste, so rigorous hand-washing after using the toilet is a must. So how does one get salmonella? Chowing down on uncooked eggs, eating raw or badly cooked poultry, dishing out cross contaminated food, petting infected animals or touching hands with someone who doesn’t believe in post-bathroom washing. Salmonella can hang out anywhere really, from your counter tops and utensils, to deep within your dish washer; run the water giant through an empty cycle and clear out any unfriendliness before loading it up again.

Listeria

Considered one of the more serious pathogenic bacteria, listeria causes a bit of hysteria on the hospital floor, due to its invasive nature and truly debilitating effects. Also known as Listeria Monocytogenes, the infection is potentially very harmful, especially to pregnant mothers who run the chance of passing the illness onto their babies in-vitro. Though infection is rare next to e.coli and salmonella, listeria is everywhere in the world, surviving in harsh environments; by chance contamination of food stuffs are humans usually infected. Symptoms don’t pop up straight away, biding their time over a period of time, occasionally only appearing after a couple of months of hibernation; when it does hit, you’ll wish it hadn’t. It’s a hammer throw of fever, child, headaches, stiffness, light sensitivity, confusion, drowsiness, aches and pains, nausea and diarrhoea, and once infected, you’ll have to stay in hospital for a while to get rid of it, hooked up to an IV.
Have I inspired your to give your kitchen a good going over with a bottle of disinfectant and a fresh cloth? Good. Don’t forget to clean out your helpful devices too, that’s a rule that can be followed in all of your rooms from your Kitchens’ dishwasher to your laundries’ washing machine and make sure your fridge is the coldest it can be without freezing its contents.

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Dettol is something I always have in my home and I’m sure most other families are the same. I use it often for many different things. I mop the floors with it when someone has the flu, I have a bubble bath with a good amount of Dettol in it as it makes me feel better when I’m sick or for the kids if they’ve come of their bikes and grazed themselves and of course I use just prior to putting on bandaids. One thing I never thought of buying is Dettol cleaning products. I don’t know why it never crossed my mind as it is obviously good for cleaning/killing germs and I already use the Dettol soap and hand sanitiser.

When I heard that Dettol had a new cleaning rang I wanted to give it go as it is a trusted brand and with a new baby in the house I don’t want too many germs getting around. Some are good but with 2 school aged boys it’s like having giant germs on legs. I have been using two different Dettol products for the past couple of weeks; the Power & Pure Multi Purpose spray and the Dettol Power & Pure Multi Purpose Kitchen wipes. Both of these products work great and make cleaning easier by cutting through grease, soap scum and dirt. I love that I can use these products on practically everything in my home and there is no need to rinse it clean after wiping. I did find that with the disposable Dettol wipes if you push/scrub harder it makes lots of bubbles which initially I wasn’t a fan of but then I realised it means I get more use out of the wipe as the cleaning liquid goes further. The same goes for the spray – a little spray goes a long way.

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