“Good hygiene is the key to good health,'' “Cleanliness is next to godliness” etc. etc. We have all heard and absorbed these wonderful phrases. But, have we as parents and responsible adults implemented ‘Cleanliness’ as a virtue in a proper way? Have we cared enough for our own habits and that of our children?
Let’s accept that we are still learning.
Learning Cleanliness as a kid
I think almost everyone as a kid wanted to be like their dad or mom. Do you remember it? I bet you do. I remember playing for hours dressing up with my mom and sister’s clothing and heels, to look just like them. The fact is, children learn more from what their parents are rather than what they teach them.
Promoting good personal hygiene habits does more than protect children from the threat of germs and disease. It also helps keep them looking and smelling clean and fresh, and promotes their general health.
We as parents tend to make this idea a complicated one. The idea of proper hygiene is not designed just to make your kid appear neat and clean in front of other people. It is basically designed to keep the body safe from germs. As a parent trying to inculcate good values, communicating this thought and highlighting what it means to be clean is very important. As I have made my point earlier, parents need to demonstrate this to their children by their actions. This is not only important on an individual level but also beneficial for the society as a whole. So, educating your children will help to maintain the cleanliness of your day-care. Teaching your children to follow healthy ways and healthy habits in life can be a little difficult. But accept that, It is your job to teach your children about germs and how they are spread.
Some clean habits which should be encouraged by parents are:
- Washing hands before eating.
- Brushing teeth at least twice.
- No one should litter.
- Covering Food
- Taking a bath every day is mandatory.
- Washing hands after playing is also very essential.
- Covering your nose while sneezing or covering your mouth while yawning is also necessary.
- If someone has pests and rodents in their house, they must get rid of them as soon as possible.
Further, educate your child that not just Personal hygiene, that is important and that cleanliness of personal space like our homes, neighborhood, as well as our surroundings are equally important.
Environmental cleanliness is being conscious about dust free, garbage free areas around you. You need to teach them their role in keeping the society clean and also imbibe that fact that it is their responsibility to educate others on taking up this habit seriously.
However, Cleanliness is not the responsibility of one person only; it is, in fact, the responsibility of each and every individual living in the home, the society, the community and the country. We all should be careful in properly disposing off the waste in dustbins, so as to prevent spreading of infections in homes & surroundings.
As adults, we have all seen product ads on the roadside, our television sets and nowadays on the digital space. Some of these ads that sell hygienic products emphasize on maintaining good hygiene by simple things like washing our hands more often and caring for the environment by not littering. These are basic but important things. Now all these are product ads and companies are trying to market their products obviously. But an important issue gets highlighted in such commercials by casting children and sometimes parents. Children learn from these little things as they can relate to the visuals. And as the ad strikes some of the parents, they too learn a lesson in cleanliness.
But, these ads are just a gentle reminders when we stop paying attention towards our hygiene. When bringing up a child, parents need to pay more attention to their own habits and those that their children inculcate as they grow up. This takes effort. By teaching right, being patient as a parent and making yourself an example to follow you can surely bring out change.
