When working with children it is very important to keep your hands washed at all times. If you do not keep good hygiene while in the child care industry you are risking many things. Dirty hands spread germs, which could make children sick, you may encourage bad behavior, and you’ll appear as an unfit caregiver to parents. If you do not wash your hands, especially after using the bathroom, you become filled with nasty bacteria. If you prepare food for them you are spreading these germs onto the food. If anyone, especially a child eats enough, they could come down with the flu or maybe even something worse. There are measures, such as making a game out of the task or using a portable sink, to make hand washing seem like less of a chore.
There are other ways of spreading germs, such as anytime you TOUCH any of them. Most of us know that children; especially babies love to suck on their thumb. If you grab hold of their hands at any point while yours are unclean, you may spread bacteria this way. Not only can you spread germs, but you are also encouraging bad behavior. You are a role model to these children. If you do not wash your hands, they will not want to wash their hands. If a child does not wash his or her hands they will spread germs on everything the touch. Every toy, coloring book, table, etc. in the day care center will eventually contain more germs than normal, and risk the health of everyone there. If you expect children to wash their hands, you must encourage the behavior by example. The worst possible thing you could achieve while working with children is gaining the distrust of their parents.
If you are in a public bathroom with a parent, or in the kitchen preparing a meal while the parents watch, and they do not see you wash your hands first, they are going to be disgusted. Parents put all their trust in you when they leave their children in your care. There are other ways to be a bad role model aside from yelling and being rude. Not washing your hands before you prepare a child’s meal, or play with a child is very disgusting and most parents will not stand for it. Just by simply forgetting to wash your hands, you could lose your job and the trust of parents. A way to prevent this from happening is to make sure your facility has a decent amount of portable sinks. By having a portable sink in every room, this makes washing your hands seem like less of a chore for both you and the children.
In conclusion, when working with children it is always important to promote cleanliness. If you do not wash your hands, you are risking a child’s health, risking bad behavior, and risk your job. Children are mimics, and will do as you do. It is important to always show them good behavior. You do not want to lose your job, or lose the trust of parents due to unwashed hands.