Handwashing

Running Head: HANDWASHING Importance of Handwashing Family Health Nursing Thursday March 26, 2009 According to Havighurst’s developmental Task theory the children of Headstart are at the the Infancy and Early Childhood Stage: Learning to walk. Learning to take solid foods. Learning to talk. Learning to control the elimination of body wastes. Learning sex differences and sexual modesty. Acquiring concepts and language to describe social and physical reality. Readiness for reading. Learning to distinguish right from wrong and developing a conscience (David McKay, 1972). The children at Headstart are learning basic skills and are at the stage of molding to meet hygienic and educational needs. Between twelve to eighteen months, they learn how to speak by mimicking others and the educators teach the children the meanings of these sounds. The children learn how to use the toilet from when they feel the urge to go use the toilet (so they don’t wet themselves), wiping front to back and washing their hands after using the “potty”. They see how others act of the same gender and age; the girls play with dolls, while the boys play with toy trucks. Children at this age also learn from right and wrong, this is also learned from the tone of the adult’s voice. These children are at the futile stage of learning, where their brain is like a sponge and absorbs everything, which Headstart work with the parents to meeting the needs of each individual. Potential factors that are barriers are that some children have vision impairment. This may discourage the child from the poster board because they are unable to see as well as the other children. This can also lead to teasing and bullying for the child. Vision loss at an early stage of life is difficult for a child because it may influence on his hand-eye coordination in games (i.e. playing catch). Vision loss is screened at Headstart by a Polaroid screen by IRG Ross Institute. This

References: David McKay Company, Inc. 1972. The developmental taks and education. Division of Random House, New York, N.Y. Retrieved February 15, 2009. From http://nongae.gsnu.ac.kr/~bkkim/won/won_117.html Eileen. 2006. Handwashing Songs. Little Acorn Learning. Retrieved March 22, 2009. From http://eileensplace.blogpot.com/2006/01/handwashing-songs.htm Activities. Earth Kids. Retrieved March 22, 2009. From http://www.earthskids.com/basichandwashing_info-kids2.htm