If you are a parent who wants to help his child, who’s going through puberty, to improve his hygiene then you’ll find the below teen hygiene checklist useful.
Until late childhood, children’s hygiene is ok by performing only some basic personal hygiene habits such as washing hands, bathing, wearing clothes, etc, but their hygiene needs change when transitioning into adolescence. Along with this transition, the teen’s hygiene list adds new hygiene habits to maintain their health and well-being.
The question is who has to teach the teenager about personal hygiene.
Parents have the responsibility to help them in learning these new habits.
I know for a fact that you don’t want your teen to become popular at school or college for being dirty. That’s not the kind of popularity you wish your child had. Right?
So without further ado, let’s dive into the recommended teens hygiene checklist that you need to teach your child and how you can do that.
The principle of teaching teenagers about hygiene
1. Follow the same daily regiment
It’s almost impossible to convince a rebel teenager to go to sleep early.
Do you know why?
Teenagers no longer consider themselves little. They don’t want to be told to go to sleep earlier than everybody in the house. They want to stay awake together with other grown-up members of the family.
The problem is that the teenager doesn’t resist staying awake for so long yet. This causes him to lack healthy sleeping, which negatively affects his nervous system that is already stressed out by the hormonal changes happening in his body.
The solution to this problem is to follow the same daily regiment altogether. Even grown-ups must go to sleep before 2300 and have an 8-hour sleep.
If you want your child to sleep healthier follow the same sleeping routine. Go to sleep altogether.
Remember! You are a role model for your teenage child.
2. Maintain the same food hygiene
The second most important component in a teenager’s life is food hygiene.
The problem with adolescents is that they begin neglecting to eat healthier. More often, junk food makes its place in their diet.
So, what can you do in this case?
First, ask yourself the question: do all the grown-ups in the family eat junk food? If yes. Stop giving your teenage child such an example.
Instead, prepare full healthy breakfasts, lunches, and dinners and eat all together at the same time and the same table.
When you spend your time together on the weekends, also pay attention to how they eat outside the home and teach them to eat right.
3. Be a physically active family
Another rule of maintaining and strengthening the teenager’s health is having sufficient physical activity during the day.
Physical activity positively contributes to the correct formation of the musculoskeletal system, healthy weight maintenance, and other important processes that happen during the formation of the teenager’s body.
To create in your teenager’s the habit of being physically active give him an example.
Let him see how you exercise in the morning or go jogging during the day. Spend more time together outside playing games like football or basketball.
Or, if you are too busy to exercise, find a good coach who will handle that for you such as training in a basketball team, training in a baseball team, or doing athletics.
The adolescent should see in you or in his coach a role model that he is willing to follow.
The child's transition into adolescence
During a teenager’s puberty, the sebaceous glands start working more actively, which leads to hair growth on certain location of his body, the smell of the body sweat changes, and acne appears on the face or on the teen's back.
These poor hygiene issues make the adolescent shy and insecure.
That's why practicing good personal hygiene helps taking care the skin, which becomes very important for a teenager.
The teenage hygiene checklist
1. Teen girl's intimate hygiene
Before the teenage girl experiences the first signs of menstruation, you, as a mother, should tell her about all the upcoming physiological changes in her body.
During this conversation with your daughter, explain to her the importance of using the pads for women during the period.
From the physiological point of view, as a mother, explain to your teenage girl what is exactly happening, show and teach her about using the pads for women, explain her how often to change them, how often to change her underwear, and how often to pay attention to the hygiene of the genitals during menstruation.
Explain her how to create a calendar to track the regularity of her menstrual cycle.
Try to be as empathetic as possible to not scare her about the changes her body will have to go through.
She shouldn’t feel shy to speak or share any thought about her fears or insecurities.
2. Teen boy's intimate hygiene
The teen boy should be taught that adolescence is characterized by the upcoming ejaculations and the first erections.
The father could tell his boy about changing the underwear on time, washing off the sperm remnants from the penis.
The teenager should know that these changes in his body should not embarrass him. These are signs of numerous hormonal changes during the puberty period in his body. Explain him that the growth of his genitals is a natural process while he turns from a boy into a man.
Also, tell him that he might experience the feeling of sexual desire.
3. Shower daily
I mentioned earlier that due to hormonal changes in the adolescent body, the sweat glands start working more active, which leads to worsening the smell of the adolescent's sweat.
You’ll have to actually remind him to take a shower once or twice a day - in the morning and in the evening.
Explain to your teen that during showering he needs to thoroughly clean his fingernails, between toes, behind ears, and all around those private parts.
4. Apply deodorant after the shower
In the puberty period, the teenager has to get used to using a deodorant.
Explain to the teen that he or she needs to apply the deodorant on a clean skin.
5. Hand washing and nail hygiene
Explain to your teenager about the need of maintaining hands and nails clean.
They need to wash their hands thoroughly after coming from the outside, after using the toilet, before and after taking meal, after playing with animals, and after handling money.
Explain to them that they can use simple soap to effectively wash their hands and there is not need to stress that much on the type of soap being used.
The main idea of hand washing is to awash away microbes, bacteria, and dirt and not to kill them, what is being promised by bacterial soaps.
Also, tell your teenager that hand washing should should take at least 15 to 20 seconds.
6. Face washing and moisturizing
Acne can be a teenager’s worst nightmare because it causes a lot of anxiety in them. The teen tries to get rid of them by squeezing them out.
Unfortunately, this only makes it worse and the rash spreads all over the face infecting it.
That’s why an all-natural facial cleanser and moisturizer should be high on our on their hygiene checklist.
Explain to them to gently apply the moisturizer on the face. Let them avoid scrubbing the acne or blackheads from the surface of the skin because that will only create irritation.
Let them choose an all-natural solution that keeps the skin quenched without clogging pores.
Remember the teenager should develop a proper skin care routine.
And if, after all, the teen still experience skin issues, consult a dermatologist or a cosmetologist. He can prescribe an appropriate skincare products or treatment.
7. Change clothes daily
It is also necessary to explain to your teenager that underwear and clothes that get into immediate contact with the skin must be changed daily such as shirts, T-shirts, raglans, underpants and socks.
The clothe that he wears should be on size and it shouldn't restrict his movements.
Point out to him that he should choose cotton clothes because these absorb sweat better than other materials.
Teenage boys are also advised not to wear skinny jeans during puberty in order to avoid negative consequences for male health in the future.
This is especially true for teenage girls too. They are advised to not wear tight bras, belts, and tight ties for stockings. These things hinder blood circulation, dilate the legs veins and cause swelling. In addition, girls wearing tight bras can cause the underdevelopment of the glandular tissue of the mammary glands.
It is better to start wearing a bra when the girl's mammary glands are already sufficiently formed, preferably after 15 years.
9. Brush teeth
Tell the teenager that he should brush his teeth 2 times per day - in the morning and before going to bed, from top to bottom, and also in circular motions for 2 minutes.
If attracting a date doesn't motivate him or her, then tell them about bad breath and tooth decay.
Teach your teen that it’s recommended to rinse his mouth after each meal.
10. Teach the teen the basic household management
Get your teen involved in doing household chores. Teach him or her how to cook, how to clean the kitchen, how to do the laundry, and how to clean and sanitize the home.
It's important that your teen knows how to maintain the environment clean and safe where he spends most of his time.
You don't want your teen to become an adult who never washes his sheets or who doesn't know how to sanitize his kitchen.
Get your teen involved in doing household chores. Teach her step-by-step how to cook food, clean the kitchen, do the laundry, and sanitize the home.
11. Maintain body hair
Due to development of new hormones in the teenagers body, new type of hair begin to grow on his body.
The teenager may shave it in certain places of the body but it's entirely up to him.
If your teenage decides to shave, let him or her know about the shaving options that he has.
First option is to use a traditional razor with a shaving cream or gel and the second option is to use an electric razor.
If you use a regular razor, make sure the blade is new and sharp to prevent cuts and nicks. Shaving cream and gel are often a better bet than soap because these make it easier to pull the razor against your skin.
Some of the newer razors contain shaving gel right in the blade area, making even beginners feel comfortable shaving.
Conclusion
In adolescence teens have to learn the habits of caring for their own bodies.
The most difficult and important task is the task of the teacher, which is performed by the parent.
The parent has to create the environment and the right conditions that should interest the teenager in maintaining his health and physical appearance.
