Musings of a Mom

 I’ve noticed over the years that boys seem to need more reminders about washing their hands after using the bathroom than girls do. That’s not to say that girls don’t need reminders, it’s just that boys need more, lots more.

Today I saw my son run from the bathroom into his bedroom while tugging at his pants. I asked if he had gone potty and he said, “Oh!” and turned, ran back to the bathroom, flushed the toilet and ran back to his room. I said, “Did you wash your hands?” He then ran back to the bathroom turned the water on and back off and ran back to his room. As he was running by I asked “With soap?” He grunted and ran back to the bathroom. This time he thought he would be smart so he came out to me to show that he had washed his hands with soap. He held his hands out to me and said “Smell!” Now, this may seem like an odd request but we use scented soap so the proof is in the smell of your hands.  But my son once again forgot a step. Yes, he had rinsed his hands. Yes, he had put soap on his hands, but, no, he had not rinsed the soap off. So I sent him back to the bathroom to wash again.

 This time I heard him rinsing his hands in the water. He then turned off the water and once again ran to his room. This time I asked,

“Did you dry your hands?”

”Yes.”

“With a towel?”

“A towel?” (There was a real pause here.) “Yeah, of course. What else would I do?”

Now there’s a question worth pondering.