I’m now going to give you an example of what a naïve mother I was when I first began this whole “mommy” business – I always loved taking baths, and to this day, I love taking showers. I do my best thinking in the shower, and I can’t function if my hair’s not clean. Because this is such a natural thing for me to do, it never occurred to me that I might have to someday explain to my children why baths are good. They should just get it, right? Well, no! Not really!
In Mick Manning’s book “Wash, Scrub, Brush!” he takes the principles of hygiene and makes them fun for those who don’t come by it as naturally as others do.
We start out with a child getting an invitation to a party. How fun! Let’s get ready – we need to bathe. We’re then told that animals, birds, and bugs all wash up too.
We talk about fingernails, and how important it is to keep them clean and clipped. We also learn about ears, and how we should wash behind them and also remove any earwax, very carefully. Included on this page is the interesting nature fact that African oxpeckers will eat the earwax of zebras and other animals, thereby doing them a service. I didn’t feel the need to know this, but now that I do, I’m a little grossed out. Let’s move on . . .
We learn about brushing teeth, changing diapers (something I know a lot about) washing hands after going to the bathroom, and taking showers. We read about brushing hair, what causes dandruff, what lice are, and why it’s important for a sloth to be covered in moss (it’s camouflage). With correlations made between human and animal hygiene, you can teach your children about being clean and about the animal kingdom at the same time.
I’m going to go try really hard to forget about that earwax thing now . . .
(This book was published in 1999 by Franklin Watts and was illustrated by Brita Granstrom.)
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