Although the importance of hand washing to preventing sickness has been recognized for a long time, it has garnered special attention over the last five years due to efforts to avoid potential flue epidemics. A vast majority of common infections can be spread by the hands, and hand washing is thus probably the easiest method we know of to prevent sickness. It’s important to instill hand washing in children for two reasons. First, because the habits children learn will, in many cases, be the habits they engage in for their lives. Second, children are already at high risk for infection and may not possess the immune system maturity necessary to fend off pathogens that may not seriously compromise an adult.

One way to build a hand washing habit in children is to start very early. This is part of the thinking behind the installation of portable handwashing sinks in daycares. A portable hand washing station is essentially a move-able sink. Water is stored in the base of the sink, and can be refilled when necessary. A station also can be hooked up to a main water supply if desired. The hand washing station comes equipped with a soap dispenser as well. A portable hand washing station in a daycare draws the attention of children and helps them develop hand washing as a regular habit. It also promotes hand washing among day care employees, whose frequent contact with children makes their cleanliness all the more important.

Proper and regular hand washing is one of the surest ways to prevent infection. The prevalence of new pathogens, and the ease that they spread throughout modern societies makes hand washing all the more important. The installation of portable hand washing stations as daycares may represent a unique way to develop a hand washing habit in young children.