Why Teaching Personal Hygiene Early is Important for Your Kids

Introduction

Good habits start from an early age. Good hygiene is the initial step to good health. Teaching your kids to stay clean means you are helping them to progress better. Cleanliness isn't limited to looking neat and staying clean, but cleanliness also boosts kids with self-esteem, and increases their confidence levels.

Learning about personal hygiene becomes a strong foundation for their future self. Staying clean is easier than suffering after falling sick. For kids, teaching how to keep themselves tidy is a need of the hour.

According to research published in Children (Basel). 2022. Hygiene habits differ in kids. Kids need to be taught that personal hygiene is an act of love towards their bodies. This teaches kids the concept of self-love.

Why Teaching Personal Hygiene Early is Important for Your Kids

From the time a child is born, their hygiene becomes the duty of parents to maintain. However, if taught about personal hygiene from an early age, kids grow up to be independent about their hygiene. Children are naturally curious and playful. Hence, their curiosity makes them touch everything. They come in contact with several surfaces with germs. If you teach them how to be clean afterward, then your job is done.

Avoiding 100% germs is impossible. But here are a few steps that you can include in your kids' routine to let them have a safe and sound future.

Protection against Illness

Kids love to play, and they love running and touching everything on the face of the earth. Sometimes they touch mud puddles, dirty books, and toys. All these have several microbial germs in them. Now imagine they start eating before washing their hands properly. Research published in UNICEF shows that the risk of catching a stomach bug may cause kids to fall sick. Teaching a simple habit like washing hands before meals and after playtime can save them from stomach aches, colds, or the flu.

Teaching to be responsible

Personal hygiene should not be treated as a chore; rather, it must feel like an easy task. When kids learn hygiene, they also learn responsibility. They know that taking care of their body is part of their job. Washing faces in the morning, cutting nails when they need to be cut, or washing hands when they use the toilet helps them improve their health. This is one of the earliest lessons in autonomy.

Encouraging lifelong habits

Children are like sponges; they absorb everything very quickly. You can shape them however you like. When a child is taught about oral health from the start, they will take it forward. Just like saying, “thank you” becomes an automated reply, washing your hands before eating and brushing your teeth becomes a reflex.

Setting a positive example

Children imitate what others do. If one kid washes their hand, other kids start following them. Similarly, if parents show what good hygiene is like, covering your mouth before coughing or sneezing, and wearing clean clothes, it can help. Kids pick up habits very swiftly; hence, showing them how to take care of personal hygiene is not a difficult task.

Boosting self-confidence

Kids who brush their teeth every day, bathe daily, and have clean clothes feel good about themselves. A child with a fresh odor and sparkling teeth is keener to smile, speak, and befriend others. If this child attends school with clean, neatly brushed hair and clothes, the teacher rewards them, and friends are eager to sit next to them. This small gesture creates a sense of confidence and pride that radiates in their personality.

Encourages social acceptance

Research published in Discourse & Society.2007 draws a parallel between children’s cleaning practices and socialization. Kids tend to become friends on the basis of activities and familiarity. Proper hygiene helps kids become accepted by their friends since nobody is afraid to sit, eat, or play with them. When kids maintain cleanliness, they tend to be invited to group activities, thus building their social lives and diminishing feelings of isolation.

Conclusion

Kids must be taught about personal hygiene in a fun and sporting way so that personal hygiene does not feel like a burden. Reward the kids for completing all steps of personal hygiene, for example, brushing teeth, showering, and washing hands. Recite them bedtime stories related to personal hygiene. Remember, personal hygiene for kids also depends on how they are brought up in the world.