My sister's raising her kids they way she and I were raised: without hand washing. I seriously don't know when I learned that you wash your hands after using the restroom. I know I didn't learn it from my mom.
Today I spent the afternoon with my sister and my nieces. When I first got there, my niece was in the restroom. Came out without washing her hands. It made me nervous, but I knew I could deal with it. Not like I had any choice.
Then out of truly nowhere, my niece decides to wash her metal ruler. Yes, her ruler. With soap. All the while telling us that germs are everywhere and that the ruler could kill someone if she didn't wash it. I cracked up, because really, what? But on the plus side, she decided that she must wash her hands after touching that germy ruler, so I was saved!
I will also add that hearing her go on and on about germs made me really really hope the OCD switch never turns on for her. Because it sucks.
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You are stronger than you think!
8 months ago
Karin says:
ReplyDeleteLucky you! i'm not afraid to ask kids if they washed their hands after using the restroom. I guess it's because i used to be a supply teacher and i asked the kids that qu. routinely (ok, small ocd tendencies coming out there, or was that just good heigene habits i was trying to instill in kids?) (younger than 9). Older than that-it was a don't ask. don't want to know kind of thing. Sometimes life just gives us a break.
Good for you for going to handle it. Sometimes the best ERP comes from real life when i don't want to make waves or seem weird to the world :).
I was an intermediate school teacher for seven years. I never felt bad about telling students to go back and wash their hands (because the sinks were outside the bathrooms, you could always see who had and who hadn't) as it actually fell under some of the science and health standards we were supposed to teach. I got to feed my germaphobia and call it my duty as a teacher. LOL
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you were able to look at it, understand it for what it was, and go on with your day enjoying your sister and nieces. : )