Talking to your child about hygiene, especially students with disabilities can be a difficult conversation. Hygiene is an important aspect of caring for themselves that must be completed to remain happy and healthy. The Broach School has started a new podcast called To Build A Bridge and this episode focuses on helping your child keep up with their hygiene.
Hygiene is very important, especially as our children grow up and get into high school. Promoting proper hygiene will help students self-esteem and help them learn life skills that are very important. Allowing your child to make choices regarding their hygiene (ie. choosing deodorant or smells of soaps, etc) will help keep them interested in caring for themselves.
Mr. Walden has a few tips for talking to your child about hygiene:
- Kids need to know why hygiene is important
- Create a checklist of items you require your child to do every day. Sometimes having a list they can check off will make them feel confident and like they have achieved something.
- Part of hygiene is washing your clothes- wearing the same clothes or layers of clothes without washing them will not solve a problem if you feel your child is smelly
- Dental health is very important. Students should be required to brush their teeth morning and evening. Mr. Walden suggests a mouthwash that turns colors when it is time to spit out.
Head over to the podcast to hear his full tips and gather some additional insight on how you might help your child with disabilities practice good hygiene every day.
