Good Hygiene in Kids – 5 Important Habits You Need to Teach Your Kid

Good hygiene in kids is born from great modeling by parents at home.  After all, what little toddler do you know who automatically washes their hands and brushes their teeth? Yep, there are 5 really important personal hygiene habits you need to teach your kids! Are you doing them?

1. Oral hygiene
2. Body hygiene
3. Hand hygiene
4. Germ hygiene
5. Healthy eating

What are 5 good hygiene practices for kids?

1. Oral hygiene

According to the American Dental Association, you should “brush your child’s teeth for two minutes, two times a day”.   As kids grow, they will begin to gradually brush teeth on their own. Yay!  But this habit begins when babies are just beginning to grow teeth. If you make it a daily habit to brush baby’s teeth, then it will be entrenched in the family routine by the time baby has grown into a toddler.

You can make it lots more fun with toothbrushes with characters like the ones from Toothbrush Toys.  These are super cute and so much fun!  They are perfectly kid-sized and have a QR code for a 2-minute story video that kids can listen to while brushing their teeth! 

You can also buy a story book that goes along with the toothbrush.  My 6-year-old uses Princess Pearly White and it is adorable!  It is just the right size for toddlers and young kids to hold and came with stickers, too.  It takes all the fuss out of the twice daily toothbrushing routine. And if princesses are not your kids jam, they have other kid-friendly options like puppy dogs and superheroes, too. Grab one!

Flossing

In our house, however, brushing teeth has never been the big battle zone.  The real, “oh, I forgot!” or “do I have to?” has come more often with flossing!  The American Dental Association recommends kids floss those pearly whites once a day to remove food and especially plaque buildup.  I know this, but flossing never has seemed easy…until now! 

We tried dental floss, but the kids hated it.  Then we used kid-friendly floss picks, but somehow, they would conveniently “forget” to use them.  Or – this is so gross! – they would lay the picks on the bathroom counter to use again tomorrow.  Yuck! 

It all changed recently when we discovered the Slate Electric Flosser.  This cute little cordless electric flosser stands up right beside their toothbrush on the counter so it’s a daily reminder to make flossing happen!  It’s super easy to use, holds a charge for a very long time, and most importantly – gets the job done!  It makes flossing teeth quick, easy, and part of the daily routine. I’ve seen a huge jump in daily flossing with my 10-year-old who always seemed to “forget” previously.  Game-changer!  

2. Body hygiene

Body hygiene is another one of the basic good hygiene habits that kids need to develop.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children bathe 2-3 times per week.  As a momma, I know this greatly depends on many factors.  For example, were we outside sweating at the park?  Is there jelly in her hair or applesauce tucked under his chin?  Have we even been outside today?  Does he stink?  You catch my drift.

The point is, small children need to learn that keeping their body clean, including washing their hair, is an important part of good hygiene for kids.  They also need to value the habit of wearing clean clothes, too.

With littles, you can make bathtime fun in so many ways!  Sing songs, read books, splash, and play with interactive water toys.  In our home, bathtime has always been a fun bonding time.  It’s a great time to teach toddlers body parts, too. 

Here’s a little song we liked to sing at bathtime:

This is the Way

Tune: The Mulberry Bush

This is the way we wash our tummy,

wash our tummy, wash our tummy,

This is the way we wash our tummy,

When we take a bath.

*Repeat naming other body parts.

And we like to sing songs about how God made us at bathtime, too.  It’s a great way to remind kids how God made them special, beautiful, and just exactly how he intended.

3. Hand hygiene

Of course, one of the most important personal hygiene habits for kids is learning how to wash hands properly.  Children need to be taught how to wash their hands with soap and water. And don’t forget to teach them how to reach in between those little fingers and scrub their thumb! My experience with littles is that they tend to keep their thumbs sticking out straight while they squirt a little soap onto the palm. It takes some good modeling and examples before they get the hang of it enough to do it alone.

Teach kids to wash hands:

• After using the bathroom
• After touching pets
• After touching diapers or trash
• After blowing their nose
• Before eating

The CDC recommends children scrub their hands for at least 20 seconds.  Now, that’s another thing that takes intentional teaching from parents!  To make sure hand-scrubbing lasts long enough, try singing, “Jesus Loves Me” as you scrub.

Another favorite little poem we recite sometimes while handwashing is:

Rub-a-dub-dub.

Scrub-a-scrub, scrub.

Down go the germs

With a blub-blub-blub.

And don’t neglect showing your kids how to keep their nails clean.  Little ones love to dig in the dirt, play with food, and roll playdough.  But all of this means scum under the nails.  There are few things grosser than seeing a layer of grimy yuck under a kid’s fingernails!  So, teach them to scrub carefully under the nails while handwashing, too.

For older kids, hand hygiene also includes learning how to cut your own nails.  This is a job that parents do for littles, but one that kids gradually take on alone.  Cutting toenails can be especially tricky for kids! As mine each get bigger, I make it a point to get them their own little manicure set.

4. Germ hygiene

Another sign of good hygiene in kids is a child who has been taught to cover his coughs and sneezes.  Model for your kids how you use the inside of your elbow to catch your coughs and sneezes.  When they see you do it, they’ll know to do the same! Yes, kids need to be taught about germs and how to fight them, too!

Small children are known for their runny noses and snot.  Yuck!  Teach them to blow their nose, throw away their trash, and wash those hands afterwards! It takes training for a kid to learn that we don’t eat buggers or wipe them on the wall or our sleeves. And yes! Kids will do all of these nasty things, until we teach them a more appropriate model of good hygiene for kids.

First Aid Prep

Another important way parents can model good hygiene in kids is to teach them about basic first aid preparation.  With kids in tow, there are always sure to be accidents that happen.  As a good mom, you want to be ready for whatever comes up.   

So, keeping items like this Keep Going First Aid Kit in your diaper bag, purse, or car, shows your kids that a crucial part of good hygiene is being ready for the unexpected!  I keep one of these in my car, and it’s so fabulous!  This little kit is chock full of everything a momma could ever need in an emergency on the go. 

5. Healthy eating

Finally, to instill good hygiene in kids, you want to model and teach about healthy eating.  Kids need to know about foods that are good for their teeth and good for their bodies.   Little ones truly have no idea! So, talk to your kids about the importance of a well-balanced diet and choosing to eat healthy foods like fruits and veggies.

Healthy eating habits begin in the home, for sure.  It’s up to parents to model healthy food choices at meals and snack time, too. These healthy eating habits can be reinforced through family dinners where you model appropriate portion size, too, and how you know when to stop eating.

How do I teach my child good hygiene?

The basics of good hygiene for kids is learned long before they even go off to school.  It’s a vital part of mom and dad’s role that starts when they’re just a baby and continues their whole childhood long.

Model good hygiene for kids

Your kids will imitate what you do yourself!  So, model for them daily personal hygiene.  They naturally will do what you do.

Make it fun
Make personal hygiene fun through games and songs!  I shared a few above that we use in our home, but you can always make up your own or sing some you already know!

Make it routine

Perhaps the easiest way to instill good hygiene in kids is to make it part of your daily life routines.  You know: wash hands, eat breakfast, brush teeth, floss, get dressed, bathe, etc.  Anything routine eventually becomes habitual.  And good personal hygiene habits are some of the best habits you can instill!

Make good hygiene an expectation

Good hygiene for kids should not be optional. Personal hygiene is one area that children should know is required from the get-go.   These good hygiene habits should be automatic and non-negotiable.

Helping kids build healthy habits with their personal hygiene can seem daunting, but it’s a very important role of mom and dad in the home. The good news is, after modeling healthy good hygiene in kids plus making it fun and building it into a routine your child will be well on their way to develop healthy personal hygiene habits. Yay!  Of course, they will need gentle nudges and reminders as they grow, but you CAN teach good hygiene habits to your kids! 

It’s worth it.

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