Putting in the fun

theSun, 29 July 2008

Children pick up the basics of personal hygiene faster if they learn them as a game rather than a chore

MY daughter knows the basics of personal hygiene but needs to be reminded sometimes. Once, in a hurry to go somewhere, I realised upon entering the car that she had not cleaned her mouth after eating and exclaimed such.

Very glibly, she replied: "Never mind, I’ll just lick it." While feeling equally exasperated and amused at her innocent creativity, I reminded her how mouths are to be cleaned.

I recall making a conscious effort to teach her about personal hygiene but somehow, she seems to enjoy amusing and frustrating me occasionally with her ‘personal’ hygiene practices.

Children learn by mimicking others, by example and repetition.
Does this mean my hand washing, showering, and teeth brushing, for instance, have not been visible enough to her? Or did she pick up some of the wrong habits from her friends at school?

We need to constantly expose our children to proper hygiene practices so that they, too, would do the same. It is important to start them young to allow them to learn earlier how to do it on their own without our prompting.
In my case, I believe I started my daughter young enough as she has understood its importance. While she knows how to do it on her own without prompting, it has yet to become a habit that does not need reminding.

Children are more apt to learn if fun is involved. Some parents get their children to sing a song that is 20 seconds long while washing hands. This is a fun way to help them remember to wash for that long to ensure they are clean.
My daughter used to dislike having her hair shampooed, so we used the foam to mould it into various funny shapes, spikes or horns, and let her see it in the mirror. It became a fun activity as she enjoyed laughing at herself. Till today, she still asks me to do it sometimes.

Having fun with the process shows them that personal hygiene does not have to be a chore. It can be something to look forward to which will eventually become an easy ritual.

I have discovered through experience that encouragement, praise and reward also work. To get my daughter to enjoy brushing teeth, we got her toothbrushes with her favourite cartoon characters and toothpaste in flavours that she likes.

We sometimes brush our teeth together, counting the strokes as we go along and making funny noises as we rinse. Once we also put up a tooth-brushing chart for her to colour a picture of a tooth after she has brushed.
At the end of the week, she is rewarded with stickers or a balloon if all the teeth on the chart are coloured.

Besides making it fun, we can give them the opportunity to feel responsible. Children like to feel important, as if they are all grown-up and independent.
Allow them to do things themselves like shower or brush teeth, even if it means doing it for them again afterwards. Praise them after they have done it.
Soon, they will become familiar with what needs to be done, learn the correct way of doing it, and like what I’m hoping for my daughter, remember to do it all the time.