Coronavirus -Interview Transcript

Dr. Cindy Gellner: Get your kids in the hand washing habit by making it
fun. I'm Dr. Cindy Gellner, and that's today on The Scope.
Announcer: Medical news and research from University of Utah
physicians and specialists you can use for a happier and healthier life.
You're listening to The Scope.
Dr. Cindy Gellner: Hand washing is hands down one of the best ways that
you guys can get your kids to be healthy and keep away from colds and
flus this season, but getting your kids to wash their hands and do it right
can be a battle. Here are some things that you can do to make hand
washing fun. You can sing a song. My kids sing the ABC's when they wash
their hands.
You can also sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," or "Happy Birthday." The
main thing is it wants to be a 20 second long song. That's the amount of
time that you should wash your hands to get all of the germs off. Don't
forget your fingernails. Viruses love to live around your fingernails.

You can do a chart for hand washing. Do it just until they get into the
habit so they realize, "Okay, I came home from school. What the first
thing I need to do? Wash my hands." They wash their hands, they get a
sticker and then they can have the rewards.

You can do fun soaps. They've got a whole bunch of soaps out there that
make it all sorts if fun. There's the Kandoo brand and all of the other
ones that come in different colors and smells and everything. Anything
that you can do to make this an enjoyable habit for your kids is going to
go a long way.

There's also a couple of really cool glowing gels. You can actually teach
your kids how well they wash their hands. There are a couple of kits, one
is about $10, and it's called Glow Germ. What you can do is put the gel
on their hands, let them rub their hands together and let them go touch
things. Then use a black light to see how dirty they got everything
without touching their hands. Then you can also put it on and wash their
hands, and then show them exactly where their hands were still dirty.

If you don't want to go out and buy a big fancy kit here's another cool
little trick you can do. Get some glitter. Kids love glitter. Put a little glitter
on their hands and then let them go play. Then a little bit later on have
them go around and see where is all of the glitter in the house because
it's probably not just on their hands. That's another way for you to see
where the germs go if you don't wash your hands.
Don't forget to wash your hands too. Kids are going to learn from what
you do, so if they don't see you do it, talk to them about how you do it. If
they're washing their hands, get on in there and get your hands clean
too. Everybody can use a little hand washing around now.

If you aren't around water and soap, what you can use is hand sanitizer.
Be sure to use the gel sanitizer. It works a little bit better than the foam
one. The other thing is be sure you let it dry completely before touching
anything so you can make sure that it works properly.

Believe it or not, hand washing can make a huge difference in how many
times you and your children get sick. Kids need to remember to wash
their hands. Make it fun. Kids will remember fun things.

I hope these tips helped you. If you have any fun ways to get your own
kids to wash their hands please be sure to post them in the comments.
I'm Dr. Cindy Gellner, and thank you for listening to The Scope.

Announcer: We're your daily dose of science, conversation and medicine.

This is The Scope, University of Utah Health Sciences Radio.