Personal Hygiene Self-Care Tasks Your Child Will Actually WANT to Do Independently

When it comes to getting our kids to participate willingly in the self-care tasks they need to do for the best personal hygiene, it can be tricky finding the right balance! We’re used to setting up our worlds for adults, so let’s take a tip out of the adult playbook for once. As an adult, I know I am way more likely to do a task I don’t really want to do if it is easy… and if it’s also FUN, the odds that I’ll actually do it go way up. So let’s take the same approach with our kids as we teach them how to care for their bodies!

Here are some things to consider in each space and with each personal hygiene self-care routine:

Purpose. What’s the purpose of this space? Narrow it down. If this is a space for getting dressed, set it up that way!
Reachability. Get down on your knees so you can see what your child can see and reach what they can reach. Add step stools or move things lower down accordingly.
Minimalism. Remove any distractions or extra items that aren’t necessary to make it easier to focus on the task at hand.
Sequence. Think through the exact sequence, then arrange the materials from left to right.

Here’s an example of how to set up a personal hygiene self-care task like face washing in a way that makes it EASY + FUN: