A sick child can contaminate half her class at playtime

Does this scene sound familiar? Your child wakes up saying her throat feels funny. You feel her forehead, and she’s slightly warm. She can’t be home sick today, so you give her some Calpol, hoping it brings down her fever. She picks at her breakfast, but says she feels better, so you drop her at the school gate, hoping you don’t get a phone call from the office.

Many parents send a sick child to school, with little thought to the consequences. I was shocked to discover research that showed a child with an infectious illness can contaminate half her playmates in less than half an hour when playing outside. In this study, the hands of one child were coated with a fluorescent agent and were tracked as she interacted throughout the day with classmates. A whopping 62.5% of her peers were contaminated within a half hour of an outdoor sports activity.

I know this because the lovely Helen Wills, who blogs at Actually Mummy, invited me to a roundtable discussion to talk about hand hygiene as part of the Healthy Schools Project run by Kimberley Clark.

Around the table were notables including hygiene and infectious disease expert, Professor Sally Bloomfield; Pete Mountstephen, Chair of the National Primary Heads; Maureen Crandles, Director of the Melville Street Nursery which won Nursery of the year in Scotland and the UK, and publications Education Today and Nursery World.

We talked about all the issues. Are we too clean for our own good? I.e. should we just take on germs, and build up our immune system (No! The best way to protect your immune system is to be healthy). Are schools assessed or audited about hand hygiene?  Should they be?  (Possibly). We explored the topic of school toilets. (They are NOT NICE) and where should the responsibility for hand hygiene  should lie – with parents or nurseries and schools? (Both).

Then it was mentioned that according to the World Health Organisation, there were 11 steps to washing your hands.

STOP. 11 steps? Really? I could only think of putting mine under the tap, wishing around some soap (if it’s available), rinsing, then looking for some way to dry them (yes, I’ve resorted to wiping wet hands on my jeans).

It got worse. Apparently just getting your hands wet and not using soap can be worse than not washing. The soap detaches the germs, and then rinsing your soapy hands completely washes away said germs.

OMG, I could feel the guilty heat rising in my neck. How many times has soap not been available in the loo, and I just got my hands wet and wiped them on my jeans, where who knows what, well, I don’t really want to go there.

Then it hit me,  if I don’t completely understand how to properly wash my hands, how can my children?

I know you are dying to know what the 11 steps are, so here’s the official low-down on hand washing from the WHO:

When I came back from the roundtable my girls were under new strict new hand washing instructions. Make sure you use the soap! Did you rinse? Dry with this clean towel. They of course, have wondered what has gotten into their mummy.

Here’s a cute video to get you and your child washing.

About Susanna Scott

Susanna Scott founded the BritMums social network in 2008 after a career in marketing. She wanted to create a space for parent bloggers to network, and share ideas and opportunities. She is often quoted as a pioneer in the UK Mum Blogging space, and has been named a top female entrepreneur. She has been featured in The Times, The FT, The Independent, The Guardian, The Sun, Technorati, She, Primo Baby and Red magazine, amongst others. She speaks frequently about blogging, social networking and the BritMums community at industry events. Her blog A Modern Mother ranks in the UK’s top 10 Family Tarvel Blogs. Follow her on @amodernmother.

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