I would love to see a virtual show of hands for all of the people who rolled their eyes, sighed heavily, and thought their caregivers were idiots when they were reminded to wash their hands fifty times a day when they were kids. My hand is up; yours?

It turns out that this was pretty sage advice. The CDC says that hand washing is the number one thing we can all do to help prevent the spread of infection—and it’s a whole lot cheaper than tubs of pump-able Germex. (Though yes, I’m guilty of having a couple of those in my house—how about you?)

The important thing is to NOT use your hand sanitizer as a fill-in for actual hand washing. Using hot, soapy water actually gets the germs and dirt off your hands, whereas while your clear goop may simply kill some germs—not actually clean hands. It can still be helpful to have around; just don’t solely rely on it for your family’s health.

Be sure to wash before eating (as well as while cooking and after eating), after handling anything outside (or anything that makes your hands dirty), coming home from school, after sneezing or coughing, and after using heavily-soiled items that are known to harbor germs—such as cleaning cloths, the computer, the telephone, etc. While it’s important to enforce these habits year-round, it is particularly vital during cold and flu season.

When you wash your hands, be sure to thoroughly scrub. Your hands should be washed for a minimum of twenty seconds—the amount of time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice. If you find that boring in your house, just time another twenty-second song— either from a favorite or make up your own.  Be sure to get under your fingernails, your forearms, the whole bit—you might even want to invest in a nail brush, particularly if someone in your home works with their hands all day and acquires a lot of dirt there.

Teach your children to pump their own soap. You can use a bar of soap, but it’s likely to retain germs from previous washes. Use hand-over-hand techniques to make sure that they’re properly scrubbing, and continue to do so until they get the concept on their own.

For some fun, you can even introduce Henry the Hand and his teaching materials. There are songs, videos, and more tips on keeping your hands clean.

Have more hand washing tips? Be sure to share them!