When it comes to parenting your children, things are always going to be a bit challenging, especially when it involves teaching your children new skills and habits. Teaching your child hygiene, for example, can be quite difficult at times. Children just aren't naturally adept at certain aspects of proper hygiene. However, in today's day and age with COVID-19, hygiene is more important than ever. But how do you instill this belief and understanding in your children? There are many steps you can take to teach your child hygiene during COVID-19. Get to know some of these steps, and then get started teaching your child important aspects of hygiene right away. 

Let Them Know They Are Helping Others

One of the ways to push a reluctant child to engage in hygiene practices like washing their hands and hand sanitizing is to let them know that it is not just about them. Children are often very empathetic and even selfless in a lot of ways. They want to help others. 

Because of this natural instinct to please or to help, children will often understand when you say that washing their hands or wearing a mask (or whatever the hygiene practice may be) can help keep other people safe and healthy. Frame it like they are protecting you or their grandparents or their classmates or teacher. Give them someone real and tangible that they are protecting to focus on. 

Tell Them About COVID-19

Children are much smarter and much more understanding than many people give them credit for. As such, you should know that you can and should tell them about COVID-19 when teaching them hygiene during this time. 

You do not have to scare them and tell them how deadly COVID-19 is or anything like that, but a basic overview is good. Tell them there is this virus or germ out there that is making lots of people very sick and that you want to protect them from it. And to be best protected, they need to avoid touching their face, wash their hands, sanitize their hands, and wear masks in public (among other hygiene steps). 

Use a Kids Hygiene Book

There are many children's books available to help them learn important hygiene steps and personal care. Find a few kids hygiene books that are geared toward helping your child learn about hand washing and germs. This will help further instill the habits of hand washing and personal hygiene in general into your child.

Incorporate these kids hygiene books into your daily routine (like for bedtime reading). Your child will absorb the lessons from the books and will (hopefully) begin to incorporate the advice of the books into their daily routines. 

This is one of the best ways to reinforce lessons you yourself teach your child as it is a creative, storytelling way to get the message across. It comes across in a different way to children than just being lectured about it. 

Now that you know more about teaching your kids hygiene during COVID-19, you can be sure you take the necessary steps to keep your child and whole family safe and healthy.