From the three days that I spent in school at the start of the school term recently, I noticed that Cass did not wash her hands before she ate during recess. From my observation, 9 out of 10 kids do not wash their hands before they eat and I am appalled. I am appalled as I get to see for myself where these kids put their hands and what they touch the moment they reach school. Kids are made to sit on the floor at the lobby of the school – one of the dirtiest places as people walk in and out. I also see many kids sitting on the floor just right outside the stinky toilets! You would know how filthy, wet and stinky Malaysian public school toilets are if you have attended one yourself. Next, the wooden desks inside the classrooms. I see dirt stains on the desks and chairs and I doubt that they are ever wiped. The other thing is the stairs railings. Most kids sweep their hands on the railings for support when they go up and down the stairs and I doubt that these railing are ever cleaned. What I am totally against is that kids are made to sit on dirty floors everywhere in the school — lobby/entrance of the school, hall, classrooms and outside toilets. OMG!! I also saw kids sitting on pee-stained toilet seats and then dashed out of the toilet without washing their hands, GAWD! My jaw almost dropped when the OCD me saw it! And I have not once seen any teacher reminding these kids to wash their hands before they eat. No wonder Sherilyn had hand-foot-mouth disease once, when she just started primary 1.
Since the start of school, I have been reminding Cass to wash her hands before she eats but each time she returned from school, I found out that she had forgotten to wash her hands before and after her recess.
So this is what I did – by putting a stick-on note pad on her lunch box as reminder. This note is always in her lunch bag. I hope this will serve a good reminder to her. I know soon she will ignore this yellow sticker and that is when I am going to change the color or design of the stick-on note pad! 😀
Do you find out from your kids if they wash their hands before and after their meals in school?
I used to pack a wet nap with each lunch but lord knows if it was ever used or thrown out! I am sure there were umpteen lunches that were dumped or traded away! Anyways, I always think kids need to be exposed to “dirt” to build up resistance, and our home is livable but not spic and span! And studies have shown home kitchens can sometimes be dirtier than public bathrooms! Not to imply anything for your kitchen! Do u pack a wet nap or a little bottle of sanitizer with Cass’ lunch bag? That may remind her to clean her hands?
Hi Chris, Oh yes, I do have a pack of wet wipes in the lunch bag for Cass. I told her to wash her hands preferably but she can also use the wet wipes. I dont think she uses it coz when I asked her each time, she will tell me that she didn’t use it, sigh! I remind her every single day to wash / wipe her hands before and after eating but I think she only does that randomly.
Unfortunately my Josh doesn’t wash too. And his hands are so dirty, blackish at times. Gosh I wanna strangle him u know. I put a packet of wet wipes in his lunch bag but he doesn’t use either
Hi-5 Shir Lin lol! I think these kids will only do it if their peers / other friends do it. I notice that this is always the case with kids. Cass likes to follow what her sisters and friends do. If the majority of them does something, she will do it too. She does not like to be the odd one doing something that no one else does. I notice that most of her friends don’t wash their hands before eating. Even Alycia and Sherilyn don’t do that until now! *roll eyes*