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)
