Hand-Washing Tips: Keeping Your Family Healthy With Clean Hands

Hand-washing is important for everyone in the family — from the tiny tots to the oldest members. We never grow out of washing our hands!

But we know it as well as you do: sometimes, when you’re in a rush, good handwashing gets put on the back burner. Maybe you’re a little rusty on your own skills or you’re just trying to figure out great ways to teach your kids good handwashing manners.

Whether you’re teaching your kids how to wash their hands or just brushing up on it yourself, you’re in the right place. Good hand-washing is an important part of keeping unwanted germs and sickness away.

At Babo Botanicals, we’re all about healthy and safe solutions for your whole family. In this article, we’ll review why hand-washing is so important, go over tips for keeping your hands in tip-top shape, and also give you some ideas for how to make hand-washing a blast for your kids!

Why Hand-Washing Is Important

It’s no secret: our hands can be full of germs. Yuck! Where do we pick up those germs?

We’ll just go ahead and say it. Poop carries a lot of germs that can get on your hands after using the bathroom (or helping your little one go potty) or changing a diaper.

But the bathroom certainly isn’t the only place you can get germs! Germs are all over; they can be especially abundant on surfaces that a lot of people touch, like door handles and gym equipment.

If someone else is carrying germs on their hands and they touch a surface that you touch later, those germs will hitch a ride on your hands.

While not all germs are bad (we need some good bacteria!), you don’t want to leave yourself vulnerable to the bad germs trying to invade your body. The easiest way for germs to get in? By hanging out on your hands

This is because you use your hands and fingers all the time — to prepare food, dip chips, care for your kids, apply your makeup, wash your face, and…well, the list could go on and on!

What’s more, germs can make you sick when they enter your body through your eyes, nose, and mouth after you touch those areas. Sicknesses like the flu, a common cold, or the stomach bug can all be transmitted this way.

Your hands are your best tools –– they do everything! But how do you make sure that you’re keeping them as clean and germ-free as possible for the sake of yourself, your family, and the people around you?

By using proper hand-washing techniques.

Washing your hands the right way can help keep those pesky germs off of your skin and out of your body! This is good for you and your family — it means you’re less likely to get sick — and it makes you a good neighbor because you’re less likely to pass germs to the next person.

How To Keep Your Hands Clean

If you just give your hands a quick rinse after cooking, changing a diaper, or leaving the bathroom, you’re due for a refresher course on clean hands. We’re here for it!

Wipe Your Hands Off

Germs won’t necessarily come off with just a wipe, which is why hand-washing is such a necessity. But, sometimes, you and your kids have a sticky, muddy mess that needs attention ASAP!

So what do you do when you need to clean up in a pinch? That’s where wipes come in.

If you don’t have access to a sink to suds up and wash your hands, use Babo Botanicals’s 3-in-1 Hydrating Face, Hands & Body Wipes to clean off the dirt and grime in the meantime.

Then remember to give your hands (and your kids’ hands) a proper, thorough wash as soon as you can! Even though the cleansing wipes got rid of a portion of the grime and gunk, there could still be some pesky germs hanging around.

For clean hands while you’re on-the-go, keep a travel-sized pack of wipes in your purse or the diaper bag. They’ll keep you and your baby clean, smelling fresh, and (most importantly) healthy!

Wash Your Hands Correctly

Good hand-washing is the first line of defense against germs and sickness! You should wash your and your kids’ hands frequently — and especially after (or before) certain activities.

Here are a few examples of when your family should wash hands:

• Before eating — you’ll want to get rid of any germs you’ve picked up during the day
• Before cooking or preparing food — you don’t want to potentially germ-up any food you’ll be making (for yourself or your family!)
  After using the bathroom — all kinds of germs live in and around toilets; soap up and leave them behind
• After changing a diaper — there’s a good chance you’ll be interacting with baby poop, which you definitely don’t want on your face, eyes, or mouth
  After wiping your child’s bottom — same rules apply here; bottoms equal big-time germs
• After your kids get home from school — your child spends all day touching school supplies, playing on the playground, and sharing things with their classmates; we don’t want them to share germs
• After playing outside — we share our world with lots of wildlife, not just other people; wash up so you don’t expose yourself to germs from animals and insects
• After touching animals — our fuzzy friends can carry germs and dust in their fur; scrubbing up after a good belly-rub session keeps you (and your pet!) happy and healthy.

Five Hand-Washing Steps

There are five important steps to washing your hands thoroughly and correctly. Let’s take a look.

1) Wet Your Hands

Get your hands wet, and then make sure to turn off the faucet. Here at Babo Botanicals, we believe in keeping our motherland in mind when it comes to how we use resources!

Not letting your faucet run is a great way to conserve water (your monthly bill will thank you, too!).

2) Lather Up

Put soap on your hands and rub-a-dub-dub! Rub your hands together for at least 20 seconds — that’s the “Happy Birthday” song twice through, in case you need a little help keeping track of time.

Be sure to lather up between your fingers, on the back of your hands and fingers, and under and around your fingernails. Make sure you reach where your wrist connects to your hand, too. No germ left behind!

Choosing a hand soap that gently cleanses and moisturizes your hands at the same time ensures you’re keeping your family’s hands healthy and soft.

Our Lavender Dream Plant Based Hand Soap uses natural antibacterial Manuka essential oils to protect against germs and leave your hands silky smooth. Sourced from a family-owned farm in New Zealand, our Manuka essential oil comes straight from Manuka honey.

Joined by a soothing combination of organic argan oil, shea butter, olive oil, and aloe vera, this manuka-infused soap is creamy, dreamy, and safe for the whole family!

Another safe and effective option for keeping your family’s hands clean is our Eucalyptus Plant Based Hand Soap. With organic argan oil, shea butter, olive oil, and aloe vera, the gel-like formula infuses your hands with moisture while gently cleansing and protecting your skin.

3) Rinse Your Hands

Turn the faucet back on and rinse all the soap off. Make sure you’re thorough here, too — all those crevices you rubbed soap into need to be rinsed off. Bye-bye, germs!

4) Dry Your Hands

After washing your hands thoroughly, dry them off with a clean towel or air dryer. If you can, use the towel to turn the faucet off so you don’t accidentally pick up more germs by touching the handle!

5) Apply Lotion

Applying lotion isn’t necessary to keep your hands clean. But since washing your hands can dry them out, it helps you avoid dry, chapped skin and keep your hands soft and moisturized.

After washing your hands (or a couple of times during the day) apply a nourishing moisturizer. But don’t go with just any lotion!

Choose one that’s free of parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, and other ingredients that can irritate your skin or harm your body. Opt for a moisturizer like Babo Botanicals’s Miracle Moisturizing Cream to keep your hands silky and soft.

This rich cream contains the perfect blend of active botanicals to help protect delicate skin and is perfect as a moisturizer for adults with sensitive skin. It’s the perfect option for the entire family!

Just like all the other hand-washing steps, this one applies to your kids as well! Keep their skin hydrated from their head to their toes with Babo Botanicals’s Moisturizing Baby Lotion.

Containing 2% NON GMO Colloidal Oatmeal, this nourishing lotion is perfect for both babies and children.

How To Make Hand-Washing Fun For Kids

As an adult, you know the importance of hand-washing and have the discipline to do it. Kids, on the other hand… Well, let’s just say they might need a little extra motivation to wash their hands as much as they should!

We’ve got several ideas to help you make hand-washing fun and interesting for your little ones! Pick one, two, or a combination of them all to get your child excited about scrubbing up.

1) Create A Chart

Kids love visuals. Consider creating a hand-washing chart to help your children get in the habit of washing hands after school and before dinner, for example.

Plus, charts are fun because your kids will have the satisfaction of putting a sticker down or drawing a checkmark when they’ve washed their hands. If they fill it up, it might give them an opportunity to earn a small, special reward for being so responsible!

Crafty kids would probably love to help you design the chart, too. They can decorate it to their heart’s desire, which will make them want to use it even more!

If your child is too old for charts, have them create and draw their own poster informing everyone in the house about correct hand-washing techniques. Then let them display their work of art in the bathroom or kitchen!

2) Provide A Stool Or Faucet Extender

Your kids probably won’t be motivated to wash their hands as long as they should if they have to balance on their tiptoes just to reach the faucet.
Provide them with a fun stool and a faucet extender so they can reach easily.

Just like with the poster, your child may have more fun washing their hands if they can first decorate a special stool with stickers, doodles, or paint. The more it feels like something that belongs to them the more they’ll use it!

3) Buy Fun Soap

Letting your kids wash their hands with a colorful soap — even better, a colorful soap in a fun bottle — might be all it takes to get them motivated!

When shopping for kids soap, shampoo, and the like, don’t forget to make sure the products you choose are healthy and safe!

For example, Babo Botanicals’s 3-in-1 Calming Shampoo, Bubble Bath & Wash is EWG Verified™ and packed with soothing organic ingredients to gently cleanse and moisturize your little one’s hair, scalp, and skin.

Plus, a wash like this isn’t only for the bathtub. You can use it for hand-washing, too. Now that’s what we call efficient!

You can also make soap with your child! This can be a fun and easy activity to do over the weekend. Your child will have a blast customizing, coloring, and glitzing up their own soap!

4) Experiment With Glitter

When you teach your children how to correctly wash their hands, it can be helpful to give them a visual of what germs are like.

We don’t mean by showing them pictures of bacteria and viruses (though for kids who love science, that may work), but by adding a little glitter to their routine!

Sprinkle glitter on their hands before they wash up. Explain that germs are invisible but they’re kind of like glitter — we have to wash our hands with soap and water to get it all off.

5) Teach Them A Song

You might count to 20 while you wash your hands, but singing “Happy Birthday” is probably more fun for your kids than counting. Make it even more enjoyable by picking one of their favorite songs, as long as it’s around 20 seconds long.

Or, if you’re feeling really creative, pick a tune and create your own hand-washing lyrics! Your little one can get in on the fun, too.

If your child is young, help them out by suggesting fun rhymes — together, you’ll make a germ-busting masterpiece.

6) Dance It Out

Speaking of singing, if your little one is a mover and dancer, why not add some dance moves to go along with the song?

Once the song or dance becomes a habit, they’ll do it even when they’re washing their hands while traveling or out-and-about.

Consider getting them involved in the process by letting them pick what dance moves they want to do. The sillier the better!

7) Use Fun Towels

Don’t give your kids just any old towel to dry their hands with! Keep things interesting by supplying them with towels featuring their favorite colors or cartoon characters.

8) Doodle On Their Palms

Drawing a funny doodle or a big, red X on the middle of your child’s palm can be an easy way to get them to wash thoroughly! In order to get the (washable!) marker off, your child will lather up and scrub away.

Make it competitive! You could let your child draw something funny on you, too. Whoever’s hands come back spotless and sparkly first, wins!

Clean Hands, Healthy Family

Being a hand-washing family is an important step toward being a healthy family!

There’s no such thing as being too cautious when it comes to protecting you and your family from germs. Taking those extra steps to make sure your little one knows how and when to properly wash their hands will make a huge difference in their health (and yours!).

Learning the five hand-washing steps and finding the right combination of fun hand-washing techniques will help your child stay smart about fending off germs. Plus, they’ll have a good time while they do it!

Opt for clean hands by stocking up on 3-in-1 Hydrating Face, Hands & Body Wipes and Calming Shampoo, Bubble Bath & Wash, putting the 5 hand-washing steps into practice, and teaching your kids to do the same. Germs will have nothing on you!