We’ve all heard the saying “Health is Wealth, ” which is especially the case for the little ones. However, keeping a check on our children’s hygiene is quite the task, and if not done correctly, it can cause a lot of health problems. Health experts at Click Pharmacy have outlined some tips that you can implement in your life right now to make sure your children are healthy and hygienic.
1. Starting early
When it comes to developing good habits in your children, starting from an early age will make these habits stick with them throughout their life, especially if they’re related to hygiene.
Children tend to remember things taught to them at an early age as it becomes a part of their subconscious, such as brushing their teeth before sleeping or washing hands before every meal. In addition, studies have shown that children exposed to hygienic habits from an early age tend to be more hygienic overall than those introduced late to clean and healthy habits.
If these habits are introduced to the children at an early age and are taught and explained in easy steps, the kids tend to learn and embrace these habits more quickly. On the other hand, telling them everything at once makes it much more challenging to comprehend and integrate these hygienic habits into their daily routine.
Parents have to understand that it’s not easy for children to comprehend such hygienic habits taught to them at an early age. So you should probably start with something easy such as brushing their teeth before bed or making sure to sleep on time or washing hands before having a meal or brushing after every meal etc.
2. Making a daily schedule
While teaching children about hygiene is an integral part of developing these habits in the long run, creating a schedule and keeping a tab also helps a lot during this journey.
You can start by keeping a list or making a journal for your children to follow daily. This will not only help them but you as well to keep a record of everything that needs to be done for the day for your children to adopt a hygienic lifestyle.
Research has shown that children tend to be more disciplined if they follow a specific schedule and keep up-to-date with that routine compared to those who don’t have a hygiene plan made for them by their parents.
3. Little chit chat matters
Children tend to learn stuff more quickly if they keep hearing about it now and then. So as a parent, you should try and talk with your children about hygienic habits here and there. For instance, try telling them the benefits of having good hygiene or being healthy or maybe ask them about hygiene on a routine basis. Such as, every morning, before breakfast, ask your child if they have brushed their teeth, and after some time, your child will subconsciously remember that they have to brush their teeth before breakfast, even if you forget to tell them.
This develops a sense of independence in your children and makes them more responsible and disciplined not only regarding hygienic habits but overall in all other disciplines of life.
4. Do it yourself
From an early age, children tend to have a lot more in common between themselves and their parents, and the reason for this is because children tend to mirror the actions and habits that they see in their parents. This is a natural phenomenon as it is a fundamental concept of children’s upbringing.
So no matter how early you start developing these habits in your children or no matter how hard you try, your children will never be truly able to implement these habits if you don’t implement them yourselves. Thus, to develop good hygienic practices, you should follow these rules and routines yourself, too. For instance, If you want your children to take a bath regularly or if you want to teach your children how to keep themselves and the environment around them neat and clean, you should make a point of keeping yourself and your environment tidy and clean too
5. Give them rewards
Although developing habits in children tends to take time and effort, the process can be made much easier and quicker if the children are appreciated and given rewards after they have completed the hygienic routine set for them. This not only makes the whole process fun for the children but also develops a sense of reward that enables children to be more disciplined.
You can combine this reward system with the schedule you’ve made for them. For instance, if your child follows the hygienic program as you’ve taught them, you should try giving them a treat dedicated solely to the fact that they have adopted a good habit.
