Teach your toddler the art of good hygiene

by Bethany Sanders (Subscribe to Bethany Sanders's posts) Apr 19th 2008 1:00PM

Categories: Toddlers, Health & Safety, Development

Toddlers are like little creatures from another planet. They eat things off their shoes, pick their noses, use markers to color their belly buttons, and they are far too familiar with their bodily fluids. My own three-year-old can't stay clean, no matter how hard she tries. I believe her record is 21 minutes.

But good hygiene is part of becoming a civilized part of society, even if it seems being civilized is the farthest thing from your toddler's mind. So how do you go about teaching the under-3 set good hygiene? Canadian Living has a few tips, including:

Make hand washing a habit. Kids thrive on routine, so if you make regular hand washing (after play, before and after eating, after the potty) a part of yours, they'll catch on quickly.
Make hand washing fun. Sing the ABC song to ensure all the germs are gone and look for soap in fun shapes or dispensers.
Get them in the habit of wiping themselves early on, even if you need to do it again when they're done. Flush-able wipes come in handy.
Teach kids proper names for all of their body parts.
Put stickers on your bathroom ceiling to encourage kids to look up during hair washing time.

At our house, we were constantly forgetting the morning teeth brushing, because our dentist told us to brush after breakfast. Finally, I bought a second set of toothbrushes to keep downstairs and now they're right there to remind us when breakfast is through. How do you teach your toddler about good hygiene?

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