Make Bubbles!

If we want children to do something properly, we need to give them clear directions.  It's important to practice good hygiene, but telling small children to wash their hand doesn't give them enough information about how to do it.  This is what I told my children when they were small: 

• Turn on the water (warm is better than cold, if you're not afraid of it) and get your hands wet
• Put a little soap on your hands
• Rub your hands together and make lots of bubbles all over both of them, including between your fingers
• Rinse off all the water
• Dry your hands.

Recently, I heard someone say children should be taught to take as much time to wash their hands as it takes to sing "Happy Birthday."   I think that's a great idea.  When I taught school, I tried to write birthday greetings on the chalkboard every day, be it for Jane Austen, Gustav Mahler, A. Philip Randolph, or whoever might have had a birthday on any given day.  It gave the students an opportunity to learn about a person they had never thought about before.  It also gives children something to sing about when they wash their hands.