Of the 413 times a day that my son uses the restroom he probably washes his hands about four. When I catch him I make sure that he washes thoroughly with soap (I have to specify the soap part). I, on the other hand, wash my hands 413 times a day out of simple paranoia and a true dislike of avoidable communicable illnesses. I cringe when my son crawls into my lap early in the morning and taps me on the cheek because I don’t know where his hands have been. I will ask him if he’s washed his hands, he acts offended by my question, then he runs off to wash them. I don’t get the impression that girls are as anti-hand washing as boys, though I could be wrong.
While I have patience for little boys with germy hands, I have absolutely no tolerance for adult males. My hunch is that men don’t feel the need to wash their hands after they urinate because they hold onto a belief that touching their member is like touching their arm, or more sadly, their finger. After all no one washes their hands every time they pat their biceps and welcome their lady friends to the gun show. Men psychologically equate the two acts, which is obviously nasty. How many times have you seen a man publicly walk away from a urinal, or a stall and then right out the door? Probably every disgusting day. Heck, you may be that dude.
I know that my boy is always in a rush and 40 seconds of hand washing seems cumbersome, so I’ve been trying to get him to do an anti-bacterial hand gel pump (thanks to mom for keeping us stocked) after every #1 and an elbow-to-fingertips washing after every #2. It kind of works, though I’m still a big fan of soap and water after every time you walk into a bathroom whether you go or not.
(I apologize for posting about using the bathroom and peeing so much lately, but when you have a four year old reaching for the bacon at breakfast hygiene becomes a priority topic.)
I wish you could hear how things are in my house, I am just short of putting up a sign on every bathroom door, the fridge, the kitchen sink that says WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS! I have a very distinct and crazy fear of vomiting and wash my hands like a anti-germ-fiend.. I truly wish my family shared my fear, they are NASTY! 🙂
My boy is pretty good about the handwashing. So good, in fact, that I’d like him to dial it back a bit. He sees it as an opportunity to play in the water, so sometimes he’s “washing his hands” for three or four minutes. When you walk in on him, he’ll jump in surprize and try to explain why the sink is full of suds and and his arms are covered with soapy bubbles. It’s a pain in the ass and a waste of water, but at least he’s clean…
I saw something on TV once where they tested the community bowl of peanuts on a bartop and it had traces of urine from 12 different people.
Luckily my oldest is pretty crazy about washing his hands, it’s his teeth I can’t get him to tend to.
People can be so NASTY. You wouldn’t believe how many WOMEN don’t wash their hands after using the restroom. I remember being in a public restroom one day(which, mind you, I will only use if I am on the verge of almost peeing on myself)and this woman comes out of the stall and proceeds to fix her hair and make-up. Ewwwww! Nasty, nasty nasty.
Oh, shoot! And I hope you and yours are having a great holiday.
Hi-
One way I got my daughter (now 11) to wash her hands was to show her how to soap her hands up, then cup them together and blow slightly to create bubbles that were bigger than her hands. Great fun! For my little one (she’s 5), we just feel her hands to see if they are damp. I’ve stumbled into her favorite soap, spearmint and eucalyptus scented- go figure! Keep up the great posts!!
Hmm . . . one of the many reasons I refuse to dine at the ‘help yourself to all you can eat’ type of buffets . . . more often than not, you get a whole lot more than you bargined for.
Loved your bicep/member analogy. The inner-workings of the male mind . . . fascinating, funny and quite often, down-right scary (smile)
Interesting…but, I’m with you. I wash EVERYTIME…thoroughly…and make sure you teach him to get under those fingernails too. I teach my little brother that – no woman wants to see a man w/dirty fingernails.
Men, let’s not forget the penis. I make certain to wash my hands hands BEFORE and after I go. It seems silly to go around putting my hands on door handles, money or anything else where other people have touched and then place it on my organ which enjoys at least two layers of protection from the aforementioned environmental hazards.
Girls can be just as bad. Usually she’d skip washing just so she could get back to what she was doing faster…but finally she realized that it takes to longer to be asked, argue and have to go back anyway.
AAD,
There are coworkers whom I refuse to shake hands with because I have seen their restroom antics. My wife told me women are just as bad, and in some cases, worse. Crazy stuff!
Yeah, my sons are pretty lax on the handwashing. I always have to ask them to go do it if we’re at home. Out in public, they always wash though, so I guess I’m grateful for that. What has helped is that we just saw this thing on PBS about Typhoid Mary. I told them that folks got typhoid because they didn’t wash their hands after going to the bathroom. The six year-old was grossed out over that.
That bacon line was HIlarious!
I’m with you, though. I’m the piss-police. Whenever I exit a public restroom, I’m quick to report all offenders to my girlfriend.
“That guy came in after me, but left before me. If his hands are wet, it’s cuz his pissed on’em.”
I don’ know if there’s a family story behind this or if it’s some southern saying, but
My mom used to always say to the boys when they came out of the bathroom:
“go back and wash your pumpy hands!”
My kid is like other kids that have been posted…she is a water baby so washing hands is just a chance to waste my damn soap and water and wet up all the carpets…Brushing teeth is also my biggest issue…
However back on male mentality…I’ve caught my husband several times not washing his hands after he pees and I’ve had to call him out on it too…but funny enough he’ll call out other people at his job that do not wash their hands…How ironic!