Healthy is a blessing that no one should take for granted. While talking about health, we often consider chronic illnesses and complex diseases and disorders forgetting about the minor health troubles. Common flu, allergies and all other kinds of frequent illnesses can be very problematic, especially when the sufferers are children.

Why are children’s health important? 

Children’s health problems are as common as adults. A sick child can be very challenging for the parents. There could be many possible causes of child sickness. Many of them are not under our control and we can’t do much about them, many others are directly associated with lifestyle habits. 

What are some good hygiene practices for children? 

Many of the children’s health troubles can be prevented by good hygiene practices say child specialists Good personal hygiene practices can be taught to children that can assure their better health. Here are some of those practices that you can teach to your children.

1- Food hygiene

Children are less likely to think about the healthy and unhealthy just like adults. Unhealthy food is one of the primary causes of many health problems in children including food poisoning. Thus, you need to take care of food hygiene while making and serving it. Make sure you practice good food preparation and storage habits to keep the disease-causing germs at bay. Teach your kids about the germs and ask them to wash their hands before eating their food.

2- Good hand hygiene

If you have kids at home, you can surely find those hands everywhere. Unknowingly, putting their hands at every single place they find accessible can increase their chance of getting sick. Their hands can act as a carrier for different disease-causing germs and can make them fall sick, thus, you need to ensure that the kids are following good hand hygiene. For this, you can

• Explain to them how they are supposed to wash their hands.
• Tell them when they should be washing their hands.
• Monitor them while they are washing their hands.
• Instruct them why they need to wash their hands when they are not with them.

3- Oral hygiene

Kids’ oral health is of utmost importance because their teeth play many different yet important roles. Based on their eating habits, the teeth are often susceptible to cavities and bad breath. This can result in long term damage to their overall health. Here are things you can do to improve your kid’s oral health.

• Ask them to brush their teeth regularly too twice a day.
• Explain to them how they should brush their teeth.
• As the child grows, ensure that they floss their teeth once a day.

4- Nail hygiene

We often see children putting their fingers in their mouths. Other than teaching them good hand hygiene, another thing you should be concerned about is their nail hygiene. Your nails, no matter at what age you are, can house millions of disease-causing germs. Kids are more prone to these germs because they put their hands into anything they find accessible. So, it is important to ensure the good nail hygiene of your child to protect their overall health. Here is the thing you can try, including;

• Cut the child’s nails frequently.
• Scrub their nails or ask them to scrub the nails to keep nails clean.
• If your child is habitual of nail-biting or sucks their thumb, make sure you discourage all such habits.

5- Take care of their hair health

Hair health is an integral part of kids’ overall health. Poor hair hygiene in kids can be the root cause of many common problems including lice, scalp infections and dandruff. No matter how much protection the child’s hair has, they can still get these problems from the kids in their surroundings. For better hair hygiene, you can;

• Wash child’s hair twice a week to protect the dust and oil accumulation
• When the child is old enough, monitor how the child is washing the hair and explain to them the right way to do this.
• Get them a nice haircut if you feel like the child isn’t able to manage the hair.
• Make sure your child isn’t using any sharp object on their scalp to avoid the risk of infections.
• Keep checking their hair for lice infestation, and treat it immediately as you find it.