My tiny little 4 year started school today, as an August baby she will no doubt be one of the youngest in the class, almost a whole year younger than her big sister when she started school. I’m not worried about her keeping up with the rest of the class academically, she’s very switched on and can definitely hold her own with older children, I’m worried about the little things. How will she carry a lunch tray without spilling? Will she wash her hands after the toilet? Will she manage to wipe her bottom properly? We all know children aren’t often as thorough at bum wiping as we’d like, and that germs spread like wildfire at school, with that in mind I’ve tried very hard over the last few weeks to teach both my girls good hygiene, and so jumped at the chance to join the Five Step Andrew® Clean Routine Challenge.
Having the steps laid out in such a clear way, really helped the girls out, and they loved the moist toilet tissue. There has definitely been much less moaning about sore bottoms and I’ve notice we’ve used less dry toilet paper, I’d actually keep buying the moist wipes for that reason alone.
The star chart was a really great idea, and meant the girls did actually follow the routine step by step. It’s been a wake up call for all of us to rethink our hygiene routine too.
Research from Andrex® has shown that 63% of parents don’t feel their little ones are fully ready to clean themselves properly after the toilet without supervision when they go to school for the first time, and 40% admit to still wiping children’s bottoms well past their first year at primary school and sometimes up to age 7.
83% of parents found talking about cleaning intimate areas with others difficult, even with their children, which I found a little surprising, especially as intimate cleanliness has a direct impact on self confidence and is hugely important to a healthy life. Did you know one gram of poo can contain 10, 000, 000 viruses and 1000000 bacteria!!
Do you think your family would benefit from the Andrex® clean routine?
We’ll definitely be keeping the star chart going.
This is an advertorial post.
Kiora Smith
We followed the routine for a week and I was impressed that the children stuck with it. I am still not convinced that you need to use quite as much toilet paper as is suggested in the routine. Part of me thinks that is just a waste of toilet roll.