Do you know that personal hygiene for kids includes teaching your children how to cough and sneeze properly?
Other than showering thoroughly every day to get rid of dirt and germs, personal hygiene is also about teaching our children to appreciate their bodies and feeling good about themselves.
Thus, it is essential to ingrain good personal hygiene into their daily routine since young. With that, they would be able to sustain the habits in the future to have a good foundation for all areas of hygiene in their lives.
In this episode of the third season of AskMeDoctor!, we are here with Dr. JoAnn Rajah, a paediatrician from FirstStep Child Specialist Clinic. We are going to walk you through different areas of personal hygiene and how you can educate your children on cultivating good hygiene habits.
Q1: What are the different areas of hygiene that our children need to be aware of?
Dr. JoAnn Rajah: Generally, there are seven areas of hygiene that you need to educate your children on. First, it’s about food hygiene where it covers simple ways to prepare and store food.
Secondly, it is about body hygiene where it looks into cleaning different body parts like oral cavity (including our teeth and mouth), hair, hands, nails and our bodies.
Looking into each body part, personal hygiene also includes nail hygiene. However, it is more than keeping our children’s nails short to prevent dirt and germs. We also need to help our children to eliminate the habit of biting their nails if there is any.
Not to miss on our children’s dental hygiene too. Once our children develop teeth, they should brush their teeth at least twice a day to prevent dental caries and gum diseases.
Next on, we need to teach our children about toilet hygiene. They need to know how to use the toilet properly and wash their hands after using the toilet.
They also need to know the ways to keep their toilet clean. Furthermore, we should emphasize on coughing and sneezing hygiene, especially during the ongoing pandemic. They need to learn to cover their mouth and nose whenever they cough or sneeze with a piece of tissue paper. It should then be followed by throwing the tissue away and washing their hands.
Last but not least, we should look into sleep hygiene as well. To keep our children physically and mentally strong, sleep is very essential.
Q2: Which hygiene area should parents start with?
Dr. JoAnn Rajah: You can start off with teaching your children how to care for their body hygiene. Not only that the body hygiene is the most personal one, but it also involves themselves directly.
You can first start with one hygiene area. Once your child is more able to take care of the area, you can gradually progress to introducing new areas of hygiene.
As you can see, it is a gradual process where you introduce different areas of hygiene once they have significantly mastered what you have taught them.
Q3: What are the basics of good body hygiene for children?
Dr. JoAnn Rajah: Children should be aware of the following habits to maintain good body hygiene:
- washing hands and keeping their hands clean
- having regular baths or showers
- brushing and flossing their teeth
- keeping their nails short
Related post: Click HERE if you are looking for ways to transition your toddler from bathing to showering.
Q4: What if my child is sweaty and has body odour?
Dr. JoAnn Rajah: For your information, sweating is a normal mechanism of our body to get rid of excess heat. This is why we usually sweat when we are in a warm place or when we are exercising in which we have heated our bodies tremendously.
This is also why children tend to be sweaty. They are naturally active, right? However, it is worth your concern if your child sweats excessively. You should consult a doctor to rule out any underlying medical conditions.
On top of this, parents are also having the concern about their children’s body odour. Body odour is actually the unpleasant smell that comes from a combination of perspiration and the usual bacteria that live on our skin.
Along with the puberty period, our children is going to have a lot of active sweat glands. Therefore, it leads to the production of colourless and odourless perspiration which gets stinky when it interacts with the bacteria on the skin.
So, at a teenager’s age, it is normal for him/her to sweat and have body odour at times as the body odour is also determined by the hormones that are actually working in the teenager’s body.
Worry not, your children can definitely combat body odour by practising the following hygienic habits:
Q5: How do we explain the importance of personal hygiene to our children?
Dr. JoAnn Rajah: It is always more effective to introduce a child to personal hygiene through pictures and stories. You can even create songs or rhymes so that your children can remember the steps of cleaning their bodies easily.
If you would recall from your childhood, you can equally use the ‘Bangun Pagi, Gosok Gigi’ song to help your children to practise the steps of cleaning themselves. You can also make cleaning or showering time a session to enjoy.
Repeat the steps until they are capable of cleaning their bodies by themselves. With this in mind, we need to be aware that our children are learning about personal hygiene as in learning a new habit. Thus, it is important for us to introduce one new habit at a time. Never introduce another new habit until your children get used to the current one.
Gradually, you will be able to notice that the personal hygiene habits will come naturally once they are ingrained in your children. They will be able to understand that keeping their bodies clean is crucial in preventing infection and illness caused by germs and bacteria.
Build Your Children’s Body Hygiene Habits With The Follow Me Anti-Bacterial Kids Head to Toe Wash
Helping your children to sustain good personal body hygiene starts with choosing the right bath products. Indulge your children with the Follow Me Antibacterial Kids Head To Toe Wash during their bath time besides protecting their delicate skin.
Made with natural fruit extracts, your children would definitely be excited over having bath time along with the fruity scent.
What’s more?
The Follow Me Antibacterial Kids Head To Toe Wash is dermatologically tested to be mild and gentle on your child’s skin as it is triclosan-, paraben-, colourant-, tear- and soap-free. The natural fruit extracts also moisturise your child’s skin and hair naturally while protecting him from harmful bacteria up to 99.99%.
Let’s wait no more to cultivate good personal body hygiene with the Follow Me Antibacterial Kids Head To Toe Wash while making bath time enjoyable and germ-free.
We hope this sharing by Dr. JoAnn Rajah is beneficial for you and your little ones. For more information about pregnancy, child care essentials and parenting from our group of experts, stay tuned to our next episode of AskMeDoctor!.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice from Motherhood. For any health-related concerns, it is advisable to consult with a qualified healthcare professional or medical practitioner.
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