Do You Tell Your Kids to Wipe Their Dirty Hands on Their Pants?

When we are playing outside, they are wearing play clothes--jeans or sweats, and they are more than welcome to wipe their sandy or dirty hands on their pants. But, I also bring wipes along in case they touch something REALLY gross, like goose poop, or pick up a half-eaten lollipop & get sticky hands.

My only struggle, however, is in getting them to see that it is ok to wipe dirty hands on play clothes, but NOT to wipe their food-covered hands on their clothes. I give them napkins, but they seem to prefer the old pants :)

Nope - in almost 14 years of parenting those words have never crossed my lips. Indoors, they know to use the sink, a paper towel or a hand towel. I have no idea what they do outside but I don't follow them around with baby wipes and sanitizer nor are their pants filthy so they probably just brush their hands together to get things off of them.

Depends on the location and the type of dirt. Basically, I inspect the hands in question then decide. I only have one, it works out well so far.

Since I still wipe my hands on my pants, I'm pretty cool with it ;)

pffffftttttt. i'm totally with you. obviously before eating, touching the baby or hugging grandma those paws will need to be washed. but in the midst of busy activity, grass, your pony's mane or jeans work just fine.
:) khairete
S.

It doesnt drive me insane when I see other kids doing it, but it drives me insane when I see MY kids doing it. They actually get corrected for it. Pants dont grow on trees! ;) Im a baby wipe psycho.
And yes, I let my kids get dirty as heck, and when they are done I come at them like a spider monkey with baby wipes.

hmmm, no. I tell them to wipe their hands on Daddy.

J/K....well, for the most part!

but here's my gross story for the day: my younger son's Godfather has taught ALL children in his care/circle/galactic spectrum.....to wipe their noses on their sleeves. OMG....so gross! Every mom hates him!

& when I say "wipe", I mean: he teaches them to start at the cuff & wipe all the way up the arm! God, I hate it! It is soooo gross!

Thanks for the fun question!

Sure! Depends on the circumstances and what it is they're wiping but general dirt from the playground etc, definitely. Actually, I often assess what they're wearing vs what I'm wearing and have them wipe their hands on me if I'm in old jeans...

I dont mind my kids wiping their hands on their pants if they get some dirt on them. unless the pants are khaki's or light colored pants i will remind them not to, or if they have cheeto hands at home I will go make them wash after that. I dont mean just had a few cheetos I make them lick their hands if that is the case (gasp) but if they are full out half inch cheese residue on every finger. But if they just ate a granola bar or fell in dirt I just have them wipe it on their pants. Heck sometimes they come up to me and wipe it on my pants.

That drives my husband insane. But I do it too, lol. Obviously I have wet wipes in the diaper bag, and they know how to wash hands with soap, but if we're in play clothes, playing, I just don't care. My oldest knows, and my youngest is beginning to learn, that we have "going out shoes" and "play shoes"; "going out clothes" and "play clothes". White Calgary Flames hockey jersey gets removed before we eat spaghetti or pizza. Stupid Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt? Play away, children...(Same thing with the $3 little athletic pants from Walmart vs Children's Place or Osh Kosh jeans/slacks/khakis).
But NO----NO wiping noses on clothes (gag). That grosses me out. My husband taught them to keep a tissue in their pocket for an "emergency" when they can't get to my wipes fast enough. (icky) So dirt, yes. Snot, no.

Hi, R.:
I am amazed at what I read. No, teach your children to wash their hands when they get dirty. We washed our hands in the kitchen sink. We didn't have to run to the bathroom everytime. We also washed our hands outside under the outdoor faucet.

This activity is a matter of discipline and cleanliness. You see, this is a habit. The children grow up. Your son or daughter gets use to his/her habit, gets married and the wife or husband wonders where did their mate learn this?

From their mother of course.

I was really shocked when I read this. I couldn't believe that a mother would teach their child/ren to wipe their hands on their clothing. I guess our culture has so much money now that we can buy clothes to change into every 5 minutes.
I am really speechless.
Good luck.
D.

Let?? LOL!!! He usually wipes his hands on his pants or his mouth on his sleeve before I can even say anything! I figure I'm better off not worrying about it.
What makes me insane is when he tries to use *me* as a napkin.

I am the queen of baby wipes... but I am not crazy (I don't think). I could NOT do the nose blowing in your shirt- I think I'd throw up LOL... so it is a tissue or baby wipes. Snot grosses me out worse than poop! If they are playing outside I say Let them get dirty! in the summer time you can hose them off, and in the fall, winter or spring you can just toss them in a bath. with cheesy fingers I would probably hand over a baby wipe- just cause i don't want to HAVE to change their clothes. Not to sound weird... but I wonder if it is because I have girls. I never wiped my hand on my pants or shirts because it wasn't "ladylike"- maybe I would have thought so much of it if they were boys.

I am not trying to sound bad... i am just being honest! Anyways... do whatever works!

-M.

ha.... pants all the way for M., and we hardly use towels to dry our hands either, we both use our pants. i'm anti hand sanitizer unless i know shes going to be hanging out with a kid who J. had the stomach flu a few hours prior then i never have it

I have not "taught" my kids to do that. I could sort of understand if you are not around bathrooms to wash your hands. But if you are able to carry extra outfits in your car at all times, I would think you could carry a roll of paper towels or wet wipes also. I just think its hard enough to get your kids to wash their hand when there IS a bathroom around so I would not want them to think its ok that the quick and easy answer is to just wipe their hands on their pants. But I know they do it all the time anyway! Lol!!!

I tell them to use a tissue, they don't, they wipe it on their pants but I tell them to use a tissue.

You have to tell them to do that?

I'm constantly telling my daughter NOT to do this. I detest stained clothes, tableclothes, blankets, couch cushions, etc......

I don't like purell (drying/allergic) so I carry a handkerchef in my purse. I also bring Gold Bond moisturizing sanitizer but use it very sparingly. I keep hearing that washing hands has been shown to be the best way to prevent the spread of harmful bacteria and viruses. Not that you should be OCD about it but atleast have them wash their hands before they eat and after restroom use.

Shudder - I was at a recent GS event and when in the restroom was AMAZED at how many of the girls didn't wash their hands after using the toilet AND brought food in the bathroom. I told the ones I could catch to wash their hands or sent them out if the had food. Thought I was going to be sick!

I have stock in Sam's club baby wipes and carry food baggies with them in all my coats and hand bags and such. People laugh at me. I am not to the point of hand sanitizer but I got real little ones and they tend to get more messy than a little, but I am not against the pants rubbing and the nose blowing in the sleeves.

I encourage DD to use a napkin, paper towel or something else. If there is NOTHING else....but generally I do have a wipe of some sort if we are out eating. If she does wipe her hands on her pants, I try not to freak out unless it's something like butter, which can be a terrible stain. If she's gardening with Daddy and dusts off her hands, that's not such a big deal. But as a general rule, our clothing is not for wiping, and neither is the clothing of others. I hate when DD uses her sleeve for a napkin or tissue. DH found out when SS was little not to use your own shirt, either. Then little kids go up to strangers....

I also don't see it as getting rid of germs. It's not. Sure there's an amount of dirt in this world, and that's fine, but before DD puts something in her mouth, those hands are meeting a baby wipe at minimum. I don't chase DD around and even at 3 she can wash her own hands where there's a stepstool and reachable soap. If there's no towel, she shakes her hands dry.

I always told my kids to wash their hands and use a towel. If they were outside playing and came back dirty, my wife and I had a towel by an outdoor faucett. They turned on the faucett, washed off, and then dried off on a towel. The last one got a dirty, damp towel, but they didn't come in the house dirty and muddy. And they had to get cleaned up for meals.

Occasionally we would let them have a "picnic" outside rather than come and make a mess in the house.

If you wash one towel or 8 pairs of pants and shirts, its an easy choice.

Good luck to you and yours.

R.,
That is actually a pet peeve of mine!! I hate that my son and husband wipe their hands on their pants all the time. My son is 5 and he carries a Kleenex in his pocket and antibacterial latched on his belt. He loves to help my husband when he is fixing something and they get grease all over themselves, ugh!! but apart from that; is, my son has sensory issues and he puts his hands over his mouth (not inside) and if he were eating cheetos he'd have cheese all over his mouth and dirt and grease and what not, so for me is kind of a must.

Ummm, sorry, but no. Simply wiping hands on the pants does not get rid of germs. I am not a germaphobe or anything, but knowing what I know about what can be in dirt (parasite eggs, etc.), as well as uncooked meat and eggs, I also know real hand washing with soap and water is the only way to go. I don't go nuts with the hand sanitizers, but I do try to have wet wipes handy for quick clean-ups because I can't stand anything sticky on my daughter's hands, and then it potentially gets everywhere else. She can get as dirty as she wants playing outside, but she is washing her hands before she eats anything or does anything else.

I look at it as teaching good habits so when she is at someone else's house, or at school, she knows how to properly clean herself up, instead of looking and acting like she was raised in a barn. My stepsons are teenagers and still will wipe their hands on their pants after eating - and they have napkins right in the front of them! Argh!

Pants are ok if a paper towel or wipes are not handy, and we keep a roll of paper towels in the car.
Of course if the pants are filthy it doesn't help much, but a lot of the time dirty is relative.

I don't have to tell them to do so, they beat me to the punch, and do it all on their own. LOL!

However, I AM one of those moms who carries a big pump style bottle of Purell in her purse, and I DO chase them down and make them clean their hands before eating, and I like to use those individual handy-wipe thingys too if we can't get to a sink somewhere.

Otherwise, dirt reigns king at our house too. I just Formula 409ed and magic erasered my walls today, and that was proof enough for me! Anyone like finger painting and hand mosaics dirt-style? That was the decor in the boys' rooms until an hour ago. :)

Now the walls are sparkly and ready for a new design for the Spring and Summer season. :P

Nope. But it's not that I have something against it. My kids tend to get into things that would completely ruin their clothes if they wiped their hands on their pants. So, they can reach everything in our bathroom and can wash up by themselves. When we are out and about, I am more likely to hand over a baby wipe. Watching them essentially ruin their wardrobe would drive me nuts.

Sorry this drives me nuts!! My MIL on the other hand is all about it! EEEK She was just over and brought little chocolates and let my 18 month old gobble the whole thing up so he had brown saliva dripping out of his mouth all over his shirt pants, and yup his hnds. So she takes my sons hands and wipes them on his pants to clean him up... ob boy, as much as I wanted to yell AHHH, I just smile and say not a problem :) I keep huggies wipes stocked like no other, and my kids are always grabbing them, after meals they get washed up while still at the table. They then get their hands washed several times a day.
That being said my kids play in the dirt and come in filthy. Their clothes get changed, hands washed and continue on. I swear I'm changing their clothes at least twice a day.

If we are outside playing and one falls down and gets dirt on thier hands.. yup wipe them on your pants.

If we are playing in the sandbox and there is sand all over thier hands and we are still playing outside but with something different.. yup wipe them on your pants.

If we are outside doing what ever and not going right in the house, yup again wipe them on your pants.

Inside/ eating out or anywhere but outside... use the sink, soap and a towel or napkin.

Your son is right its only dirt... and you will be doing thier laundry anyways. I would be more upset if they had to run in and wash thier hands all the time! Dirt tracked inside, the dirty splashes from the sink/ water, the towels... nope I would rather they use their pants.. or mine! :)

Nope. I tell them to wipe their hands on MY pants. (Especially if I'm wearing jeans.) My kiddos hate having stuff on their hands, but they'd be unwilling to wipe them on their own clothes/pants (even though they are only 2 and 4yo). If their hands are extra sticky, I'll find some other way to wipe them off, but if it's just dirt or water, wipe them off on my pants.

Apparently, people need to learn to lighten up a bit. Eh?

Yes, absolutely! Until we get home and then we wash up. But at the park, store, etc. unless its very messy, yes!