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Original poster

Children with filthy nails!

57 replies

Shootingstar1115 · 13/07/2019 11:57

Hi all, please don’t hate me on this one. I have two DC, they get grubby playing outside but with regular bathing, cleaning with a nail brush, hand washing, face washes etc they still look clean and hygienic, most of the time anyway 🤣

So the other day DD went to a party, it was in the garden so a lot of children running around bare foot. I couldn’t help notice some children’s finger and toe nails were absolutely filthy. I’m not just talking about a little bit of dirt here. It was thick dirt around the edges of the nails and some of the children’s feet were black with ground in dirt. There is no way they got that dirty at the party so they arrived like it. My own daughters feet were a bit grubby when we left but nothing extreme.

The children in question had their hands in the party food. Then they sat on a blanket outside and all their feet where near each other and their plates of food. It made me cringe.

I just think clean hands and feet are just a basic level of hygiene we should teach our kids?

My kids get fed up of me scrubbing their nails with a nail brush every night 🤣

OP posts:
Picklypickles · 13/07/2019 12:36

My kids have a bath/shower every day, they go off to school in nice clean uniforms. When I pick them up 6hrs later they both look like they've spent the last 6 months living rough in a rainforest somewhere, filthy clothes, filthy faces, filthy nails etc. It doesn't seem to take much at all for them to get dirty, I think the only way to keep them clean for longer than 5 minutes is to keep them permanently in the bath.

Oliversmumsarmy · 13/07/2019 12:36

One of the best things you can do to help your child not get sick is keep their nails nice and shorts. Stops dirt and germs accumulating underneath and ending up in the mouth

Ds and Dd have never had a sickness bug ever.

Actually think a bit of dirt never harmed anyone.

When I was young we had a bath once per week. Tin bath shared with 8 other adults and one other child.

By Sunday morning we were really really filthy, so was everyone else in the street.

I don’t ever recall any of us getting tummy bugs

serenadoundy · 13/07/2019 12:39

So the other day DD went to a party, it was in the garden so a lot of children running around bare foot. I couldn’t help notice some children’s finger and toe nails were absolutely filthy. I’m not just talking about a little bit of dirt here. It was thick dirt around the edges of the nails and some of the children’s feet were black with ground in dirt. There is no way they got that dirty at the party so they arrived like it.

In your OP ^

I know the parents of the little boy in question. I know he’s not neglected. It was a joke, calm down.

Not long after Hmm

So is it some children you are having a laugh at or just the one boy you know Confused

Honestly OP, posting about dirty children doesn't make you a better parent, or person, or even particularly nice. It's just a horrible thing to do.

Original poster
Shootingstar1115 · 13/07/2019 12:42

Jeez. I think people have completely missed the idea of my post. I couldn’t give a crap who’s children looked immaculate and who’s children were covered in mud but I do care when filthy hands are in food my daughter was also picking up. It’s disgusting.

There were a few children there that looked like they needed a good scrub to be honest not just the little boy but he stood out the most.

OP posts:
stayathomer · 13/07/2019 12:46

I'm always torn on this.Two of my sons are dirt magnets. They're nine and four and need a shower every second night . The other two get two showers a week and one of them looks like he's been showeredgoing into the shower! The kids dog outside a lot and we have a sand pit but we dodo loads of handwashing but another (The 11yo) has nails he has to scrub ALL THE TIME. So, depending on which of the kids you met, at what time of the day and depending on the weather, you'd think they were immaculate or we neglected them. And yes, I've turned up at school with 11yo realising his nails looked horrific but has nothing on me to clean them. Had anyone seen them that day I'd have gotten judgemental looks

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 13/07/2019 12:46

My kids can turn their immaculate nails manky just on the walk to school. It's a never ending battle.

Kids get mucky.

MonstranceClock · 13/07/2019 12:49

My 4 year old has a shower every morning before school, but she usually looks like she's never been washed in her life.

sheshootssheimplores · 13/07/2019 12:49

Oliversmumsarmy - I can’t agree with a little dirt never harmed anyone because a really really nasty bug is currently going round my child’s class and kids are in hospital very ill. So if we can try our hardest to keep germs from spreading it helps everyone.

MitziK · 13/07/2019 12:51

Depends upon what the parents are actually like - some nailbiters/toe pickers just have no idea how to look after children's nails, as they don't have experience of dirt/bits of sock fluff getting under the things.

DD2 was a dirt magnet - she'd walk into class looking pristine, but by 3.15pm, she'd come out and I'd wonder whether they'd shoved her into the bins to play for six hours. It wouldn't matter that she'd had a bath every day, her feet ended up jet black as she'd take her shoes off at every opportunity usually on the dirtiest surface she could find, her nails were revolting (deep nail beds) and her hair looked as though it hadn't been brushed for a month.

DD1, however, usually came out looking pretty much the same as she went in, just with her hair needing another brush. I don't think I ever saw her looking dirty, even when she was playing outside barefoot.

[shrug] There are more important things to worry about with kids than seeing them in the middle of playing and judging the parents for it.

serenadoundy · 13/07/2019 12:59

Jeez. I think people have completely missed the idea of my post. I couldn’t give a crap who’s children looked immaculate and who’s children were covered in mud but I do care when filthy hands are in food my daughter was also picking up. It’s disgusting.

Perhaps you should have missed out the 🤣 when talking about the children being dirty then?

likeafishneedsabike · 13/07/2019 13:00

A lot of people are missing OP’s point. Kids get dirty - some less so, some more so. We have to let them enjoy themselves and not worry about them getting filthy. BUT we also need to make sure that they go to bed with clean bodies and hair, and that they they don’t wear dirty clothes the next day. This is basic parenting.
What OP is talking about is kids who are given the freedom to get dirty but then not cleaned at the end of the day.

Chovihano · 13/07/2019 13:02

Surely if they were playing in the muck and running around bare foot they would be dirty. Confused
I think a bit of muck does no harm and you can bath them later.
Why didn't you tell them to wash their hands, it takes a village ....

Tallgreenbottle · 13/07/2019 13:23

Wouldn't be arsed tbh OP. Grubbier the better for their immune system and my own kids.

If anything I'd judge someone who made their kids scrub their hands and nails all the time and made them get a bath every day. Because unless they have literally been rolling in actual shit or mud then it isn't needed. At all. You're just fucking up their skin (& gut) biome.

Tallgreenbottle · 13/07/2019 13:25

Why is it "disgusting" @Shootingstar1115? Please do explain because scientifically unless they'd been picking their backside or had worms, then no, it's really generally not a big deal. They are children, ffs. They haven't been handling raw meat in an abbatoir.

Opossooom · 13/07/2019 13:29

Children and adults. It’s disgusting. I particularly do not like men with longish nails, and if they have dirt in them it sends me over the edge. I find them absolutely revolting 😂😬

Teddybear45 · 13/07/2019 13:32

A lot of kids don’t bathe daily and are allowed scratch their bums and not wash their hands afterwards. A lot of my dn’s friends do this and that’s usually the cause of their black nails. On a play date I just heard the kids to the bathroom as soon as the parents are gone and make them scrub their hands before they do anything else.

Ginnymweasley · 13/07/2019 13:40

My dd constantly seems to have dirty hands. She washes them, we bathe her etc but within 5 mins she has dirty hands. I cant get worked up about it tbh. She is 4. I imagine it will get better as she gets older. Children playing in a garden with dirty hands is just not something that I could get worked up about.

Sleepyblueocean · 13/07/2019 13:57

Ds can get filthy in a hour. He often comes home from school covered in mud from playing outside. Has bath at least every other day. Won't tolerate having nails scrubbed ( sensory due to severe autism) but we do manage to cut them which will a child with his needs, is something we are doing well to do.

DeepestDarkestRiver · 13/07/2019 13:58

Just had to weigh in here with another possible reason for some kids to have black nails: eczema. My DS2 has it and so is always covered with cream. Dirt, clothing fibres, etc, stick to the cream, he scratches, et voila - black, grubby nails. We do our best to keep on top of it, but his nails often look like that.

Original poster
Shootingstar1115 · 13/07/2019 14:45

I also have eczema and fluff etc sticks to cream in my nails but this isn’t what I’m talking about. Everyone’s nails can get a little bit grubby mince and the children’s included but this was thick grime in and around the nails not just in the nails. I’d never seen nails so grubby.

I think people are missing the point.

Hand hygiene is so important imo. No wonder germs spread around schools so much!

OP posts:
GibbonLover · 13/07/2019 14:57

They are children, ffs

Do children harbour different bacteria to the over 18s then? Is a finger that's been stuck up a nose or in a mouth clean if it belongs to a child? It doesn't matter whether a germ is on a child or an adult, it's still a germ. Unwashed hands, of any age, all over a buffet is disgusting.

stayathomer · 13/07/2019 19:09

A lot of kids don’t bathe daily and are allowed scratch their bums and not wash their hands afterwards. A lot of my dn’s friends do this and that’s usually the cause of their black nails. On a play date I just heard the kids to the bathroom as soon as the parents are gone and make them scrub their hands before they do anything else.

A lot of kids?!?!?!

Camomila · 13/07/2019 19:17

DS is another one that goes to pre-school freshly washed and comes home filthy. I make him wash his hands (and arms!) and often change his tshirt as soon as he gets in.

I cut his nails lots though as he's got dry skin and scratches at night.

RedRep · 13/07/2019 19:33

Why are you spending time looking at other people’s kids nails? It’s a party and they were playing outside, get a grip. And OCD is a serious mental disorder, not something for you to joke about in your post.

bobstersmum · 13/07/2019 20:04

No excuse to turn up at school or a party with filthy nails but if they'd all been playing in the garden it could have been that? Dd is just 2 and I cannot keep her in the house. She gets up and the first thing she says when we go downstairs is please can I play out? She will not wear shoes in the garden. So her toes and feet are invariably grubby! But she has a nightly bath and washes her hands before eating. Kids are mucky little creatures!