The current media onslaught surrounding the high profile H1N1 'swine' flu strain may have at least one positive effect - stressing the importance of handwashing and hygiene within nurseries and pre-schools.
All children should be taught to wash their hands properly, but just as important is knowing when to wash their hands properly! The danger is that we create a generation of compulsive-obsessive children who wash their hands at every turn and never experience the joy of digging in the garden for worms, or the delight of eating finger food. Hopefully they do not confuse the two, but nevertheless, children will be children.
Protective parents may over-react to the current situation, which may in turn create paranoia on a grand scale. And if very young children watch the news, they might start to worry unduly about eating pork or travelling. Children need to be reassured that they and their family are not at such a risk.
Raising the subject of germs (good and bad!) in a safe environment can be a lot of fun. A sensible middle ground must be taken, stressing that germs can make you ill but can easily be washed away.
Last year, Toyguard ran a design-a-germ competition (in association with Morton Michel and Nursery World). Parents, childminders and daycarers all responded very positively. It created a friendly, fun environment to discuss germs, what they might look like (under a microscope) and how they can be spread (see illustration).
For the past six months we have been carrying out handwash training for the nursery sector. By using ultraviolet light and fluorescent powder, you can imitate how germs stick to the skin and how they get in all the hard to reach places, such as under your nails, between your fingers and around your wrists.
Improving hygiene
There are some simple things that you can do to make handwashing easy for children.
- Don't use antibacterial soap - where soap is left on the skin in a diluted form, there is most likely to be bacteria too. This increases the odds of developing resistant strains.
- Use foaming soap - making handwashing fun is half the battle. Foaming soaps spread more easily across the skin, covering a much larger surface area much faster. This uses up to 90 per cent less soap per dose of liquid soap, so it saves you money!
- Do not use hand dryers - electric hand dryers leave bacteria on the hands, and usually leave the hands still moist (how often have you rubbed your hands down your clothes after using one?). And they also increase the surface temperature of the skin to perfect growing temperature.
- Use paper towels - the physical action of rubbing the hands with paper removes the soap, the moisture and any dead skin, which helps take away the germs' food source. If you have a problem with paper on the floor or the environment, you can use a paper roller machine that keeps the used towels in a separate storage area within the machine.
HAND SANITISERS
In the pre-school environment, alcohol hand gels can give a false sense of security. They are not as good as soap and water (and paper towels). They certainly can be used as a back-up when you have a mild outbreak of something in the nursery, or you are out on a field trip where soap and water might not be available or might be 'a bit iffy'. Remember that alcohol gels do not kill 'everything', for instance norovirus.
Alcohol gels dissipate very quickly, so they need to be used frequently. The alcohol can dry the skin, so they are unsuitable for eczema sufferers or dry skin conditions. Look for polymer- based hand sanitisers, as these will contain ultra low amounts or no alcohol, and will last on the skin a lot longer.
RESOURCES
On the ToyGuard website there are free downloadable pdfs that you can use with children of all ages. They can be coloured in, laminated and placed by sinks and toilets. See http://www.toyguard.co.uk/resources/nurknowhow.php
