Hand It to You

Scrub a dub dub
Three men in a tub
And who do you think they be?

We’ll tell you who they be—they be germs! And they are not just in the bathroom (where most people think they live). They are actually much more abundant than that, and particularly are all over the human hand. Adults and kids alike, we pick them up from other people we interact with, surfaces we touch, and animals we come in contact with. Yup, pretty much everywhere we go and everything we do, we are coming into contact with the nasty germs that need to be scrub a dub dubbed. 

As usual, we have a simple solution. Wash your hands with soap and water…and often. Here’s the 411.

The ‘When’
Key handwashing moments go beyond just when they look dirty and include (but are not limited to, as our lawyers like to say):

• Before eating (and after, if you had ribs or ice cream cones)
• Before, during, and after handling or preparing food
• After contact with blood or other bodily fluids (vomit, nasal secretions, saliva…welcome to motherhood!)
• After changing a diaper (even if it is the 20th one that day)
• After you use the bathroom or help the kids use the bathroom (even if it is the 20th time that day)
• After touching animals, their toys, leashes or waste
• After touching something that could be germ-ridden e.g. garbage can, the kitchen counter cloth, a cut or a sore
• Before dressing a wound or giving medicine (and by the way, if someone in your household is sick, you should wash everyone’s hands even more often)

The ‘How’?
Pop quiz! How many seconds does it take to get the job done right? 5 seconds? 10 seconds? Try 15 to 20 whole seconds for the soap to remove all the germs. That’s how long it takes to sing Happy Birthday or Row, Row, Row Your Boat two whole times (if you need a built-in timer). Most kids don’t even make it to ‘gently down the stream’, we’re willing to bet, so get everyone singing on their way to cleaner, healthier hands by adopting our nine step hand washing process approved by the kids’ health experts at About Kids Health from the Hospital for Sick Children:

1. Wet your hands thoroughly
2. Apply liquid or clean bar soap
3. Rub hands vigorously together
4. Scrub all surfaces of the hand
5. Make sure to get between the fingers and in and around fingernails
6. Wash the wrist and lower arms if necessary (depending how deep into ‘it’ you were)
7. Continue for at least 15 seconds. It is the soap COMBINED with the scrubbing action that helps dislodge and remove germs
8. Rinse well, removing all soap residue
9. Dry hands with paper towel or clean towel. Use paper towel to turn tap off (or risk going back to square one by touching all the germs others have left on that tap before they washed their hands)

And, if soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based wipe or hand gel to do the trick in a pinch.

So put your hands together for some good old-fashioned hand washing—it can prevent the spread of most diseases and reduces the risk of your family getting sick. That’s pretty handy, we think.

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