Hand Cleaning

Actually, mostly we ignore the hand cleaning, and that is why I want to write abour this issue. Hand washing is the first step we have give to our children as a habit to save and keep their selves clean. This is related with our family and I added this title under the family title. I will try to explain what is importance of hand washing, and also I am going to tell about the what is the right hand washing ways. I think, if we can understand and tell the reasons and the logic of hand washing, this can be turn to a habit more easier. I mean, we have to establish consciousness about this.

Hand washing is located at the first lessons at medical schools. They have got a really important reason. It is the main step for hygiene. We can see that mostly in epidemic illnesses. A location can be the centre of the ill, despite the illness is not the first appear in that locations. Mostly, human factor help to carry the bacterias to there. And again mostly with our hands. We take and bring them. The bacteries that are too small to visible by eye, can move by their selves but it is too limited. They go their new homes by holders one by one.

Holders are at the all stages of carrying the bacterias, in other words the diseas sources. Thats why the illness transmission rate is too high in the crowded locations or at the passing points like busses.

Think about it, how is the first touch with a new person or a new object. Of course, it is our hands.

You get on a bus, go to a cafe anf you give your card to a person who meet min. 100 people in a day and get your card back and you go to your home and your 3 year-old daughter give a big hug to you. You do all these works by your clean! Hands. Probably, you hold more than thousands of bacteria and leave a big part of to different locations. It becomes a bit frightening but it is exactly what is happening.

On the good side, as our communication with our environment gradually increases, our body begins to make itself resistant to these bacteria and germs.So our immunity is increasing. If you have a healthy body, your body usually resists against them, and we often do our normal lives without getting sick again and again. Sometimes, the situation may be different. Suppose that you have been exposed to a new flu virus for you, and that you normally survived 5-7 days (depending on the normal course of the disease). If enough cleaning and precautionary measures were taken, you would not be infected.

The importance of hand cleaning in preventing the spread of diseases

Let me try to convey this network to you with a few behaviors that are familiar to you. Your colleague’s wife from work took her child to school and met and greeted your child’s friend’s mother who was suffering from the flu. That person sneezed at least 10 times in the morning. He had never washed his hands because he had a disposable handkerchief.When your wife’s friend touched his hand, some of it passed on to her. She went back to the home. Your friend and his wife used the same car. Even if they do not meet each other, they carry the bacterias by the steering wheel or the air in the car. Those bacteria passed on to you because you were working in the same environment.

This is how you can explain your spouses and childs sickness, even without direct contact with the illness source.

This long braid may seem a bit complicated and artificial to you, but this sequence of events is experienced many times a day.If one of the people involved in the distribution had paid attention to hand hygiene, it would have prevented the spread of the disease so quickly and easily.

Whoever is the source of the disease, that is, the person who has the disease, his attention to the basic hygiene issues prevents the transmission of the disease to more people.In addition, the disintegration stage of bacteria is more effective in those individuals and the person should remember that they are the source of bacteria and should take precautions. He should wash his hands very often, should wear a mouth-nose mask (sick mask), should not use common towels, should avoid one-to-one contact with other people. These measures are not necessary for the self-protection of the sick person but for the protection of those around him. It is necessary not to cause illnesses of your spouse, parents or children, that is, their closest relatives. Especially if there are people who have immune system susceptibility from people living nearby, they should pay more attention to these measures.

Hand washing

According to the purpose of hand washing is basically divided into 3 main groups. This is the first that we will use in daily life. Social hand washing. Therefore, I will only try to explain the first group in detail and by adding my daughter’s experience.

1. 1. Social hand washing
2. 2. Hygienic hand wash
3. 3. Surgical hand wash

1. Social hand washing

Social handwashing is a form of handwashing we do in daily life, especially in society. We also use this method when washing our hands frequently in our house. In schools, shopping malls, social events, when the number of people is too high, we need to get rid of the dirt quickly and fundamentally. We use soap and water in this type of washing. Basically, we remove the dirt from our hands by the physical movements we know. Every handwash in daily life is a social handwash.

• Before – after the toilet
• Before and after meals
• Before cooking
• After contact with sick persons
• If you are sick, very often
• Before and after changing your baby’s diaper
• After touching things in contact with multiple people, such as money, credit card.
• After contact with street animals.
• Direct or indirect contact with the floor.

Let me talk about a few of these items again, because I think it is necessary to repeat these two points in the family while giving children the habit of cleaning.

We should integrate the habit of hand washing to toilet and food. So even if the child is not eating on his own, you can wash his hands with plain water without using soap before putting him in the highchair. Or you can choose water-based, non-additive wet wipes. When you wash your hands before eating, as you know, we prevent bacteria from touching our food and mouth. After eating the food already needs to be completed by hand washing.

Another important point is the handwashing before and after the toilet. In general, additional washing after toilet use is more common, but it is especially important for girls to have the habit of washing hands before entering the toilet. Women, unfortunately, are more susceptible to bacteria and germs from outside due to their genitalia. They should be more careful. When cleaning the genital area, there should be no bacteria they carry from outside environments. Hands should be washed with soap before and after.

My daughter says, “How do microbes run?” activity

We know that hand cleaning is essential, but we need to tell our children about it. We have done a cleaning activity with my daughter at home. More precisely it can be the activity of let’s see how germs spread.

The finger paints used for children were around three and a half years old and we put them on various toys and furniture in our house. For example, we put finger paint on the washable doll, my daughter’s water glass, her bike, her scooter in different colors. However, before this activity, we talked a lot about the fact that we couldn’t see the germs for a long time and many times but that they could live in our hands. Often, when she wakes up in the morning trying to convince her why face cleaning or hand cleaning during the day is necessary. As we started here, let’s say that these paints are microbes that live on the toys. Let’s see where they can go. She started to play with her toys, tried to disperse all of the paints, then wanted to hold the glass of water, etc. etc. Then we started to see all the colors everywhere. The colors were confused, the other toys we didn’t paint at all, the door handles had paint everywhere.

When completing our event, we asked her how it happened, and explained the reasons according to the grain level. When she washed her hands, we told her that she didn’t paint the places she touched when all the paint was gone and that if we wash them often, our hands were constantly free from microbes that we couldn’t see with our eyes. The pollution, now invisible to the naked eye, became visible to my daughter. Come on, let’s wash our hands, she says, so we can clear the germs. We made things easier by embodying an abstract concept for her. It was nice and fun for us. Of course, if the colors are involved for them, as you know, all the activities are good. Also, as a mother, I’m very glad that I could finish this activity without getting close to some things like armchairs or curtains. We didn’t have a permanent mark.

I think when children are exposed to these habits from a very early age, they become part of their personality and become part of them later in life. It seems to me that these little pieces of personality should add a valuable and positive trait to their lives.

How to wash hands

I explained the reasons why I can go into the details of how to wash hands. In social handwashing, the hands should be wetted with a sufficient amount of soap and then washed in such a way that they touch the surface of the whole hand. Washing should last at least 10 seconds, but ideally 20 seconds. Hands should be washed after each contamination. In the picture below, you can get an idea of how to wash hands and what to look out for in hand movements.

In addition, I share another template below for hygienic hand washing. For a more hygienic and detailed cleaning, you can use the movements in this template. Fingerprints, nails, palms are more favorable in terms of bacterial growth than other surfaces of the hand. In general, these areas are already in contact with dirt and dirt before and more.

I hope it has been a useful article, please share your thoughts in the comments.