To expect guests to wash their hands on arrival?

[SillyFillyDress]

Am I being unreasonable in thinking people should wash their hands when coming from outside to your house?
Would you ask kids who come to yours for a playdate to wash their hands?
Would you ask adults?

I thought it was clear that I was making an observation about brittons of the Mumsnet posting on a few specific hygiene-related threads, but I can spell it out like this for the slower ones. Better?

The OP mentioned the newborn in one of her later posts. In the meantime many UK posters used the opportunity to express how they never wash their hands after coming home and how offended they would be if someone asked them to. Some even tried to argue that point even in the context of the baby.

I understand that she didn't mention the newborn in the first post - if she is from a country where the normal thing to do is to wash hands when coming inside regardless the age of the inhabitants, it is just strange that many brittons (of the Mumsnet posting on this kind of threads) feel that general hand washing is beneath them.

"Insulting considering our contribution". It really isn't me who insults the heritage of medical advances (thought claiming them as British is a bit of oversimplification, even if omitting Semmelweis, I'd say that Koch's and Pasteur's works were crucial for Lister). The real insult to that are posters like those at yesterday 12:14 and 12:29 (to pick a few from the latest page).

@Cazareeto1 I’m Scottish and I find your comment completely insulting considering our contribution to world on our medical inventions, innovation, hygiene.. completely insulting!! Btw we are the ones who pushed discovered cross contamination and the must for hand washing and sterilising medicine equipment and surgical rooms for any medical operation and child birth…

What a bizarre thing to be insulted by. I had to read @eightIsNewNine's post twice because I thought I must have missed something. Not sure what you mean by '[we] discovered cross contamination' however it's well documented that when a (Hungarian) doctor observed the link between handwashing and a reduction in disease, including a significantly reduced mortality rate in newborns and new mothers, other doctors took offence and continued to be resistant to washing their hands. Many women and newborns continued to die unnecessarily, and the poor bloke who raised the alarm was ridiculed and lost his job over it. He went on to have a nervous breakdown and died in a psychiatric hospital.

You should read the history…. Cross contamination.. if you don’t know what that is you may wish to educate yourself… Then you would understand what I said… Scotland has been the most invent when it comes to medical and engineering. That is undeniable… Your comments and you original comment was completely insulting. You are far too arrogant to think of what you say and how rude you are being. OP if you read what she replied to me, she never thought about hand washing (ie asking someone to wash hands) prior to having her new born…. Her worry is completely normal, and her reaction is completely normal. She was only asking a question. If it was normal for a midwife to not wash hands which is not normal.. You have just been completely insulting

???????

I understand what cross-contamination is, microbiology made up a substantial part of my degree, but as for the rest of your post I don’t have a clue what you’re going on about, sorry!

Seems you are mixing two posters together. The first "insulting one" was mine, not @Jaehee 's.

And I replied to your hurt pride post at 1:29, just two posts up. You must have missed it, otherwise you wouldn't continue about undeniable superiority of Scottish healt discoveries when a few other names were already brought to the discussion. Do you know them?
And, even if you were right about the credits, isn't it said how low adoption that knowledge in general population based on this thread?

The OP actively noticed the lack of hand washing when she had her newborn, but was surprised it just wasn't a general habit no matter the babies. To me it looks rude and disrespectful to not wash one's hands when coming to someone's home. It says you don't care about their wellbeing.

Guests should wash their hands before eating. But it would be extremely rude to ask an adult guest in your house to wash their hands. It would be fine to ask a younger child to wash their hands before eating.

If the guest isn't polite enough to wash the hands on their own, especially with a newborn in the house, they need to be gently encouraged to make the right decision.

Why would it be rude to ask and explain it would make you feel better if the guest did wash their hand?

Tbh OP I’d be happy to have a shower at yours at the moment if you’ve got the heating on.
It’s freezing here

It’s not something I usually think of unless their hands are visibly dirty

Your household your rules tbh
I remember when my son was newborn just a couple of weeks ago and a friend of my partner turned up with two kids. They all have flu and we’re really sick but just wanted to see the new baby. Actually I asked him to leave still don’t regret that.

I have OCD and would love to do this and the only reason I don’t is because people would think I’m weird! I do have massive germ phobia however so what I tend to do is clean down all the doorhandles taps the toilet, the towels, et cetera once they have vacated the house!

I wash my hands when I get to mums (she was looking after my, now, deceased dad)- I still do it. I wash my hands, especially if I’ve been out shopping, when I get home.
I have always used hand sanitizer, even before COVID!
I wouldn’t dream of asking any guests to wash their hands, but there is HS in the cloakroom if they want to use that.

How inconsiderate

It would never cross my mind to ask an adult/teenager.

The only time I’ve asked my DS (6) and his 2 friends who play here is if we have stopped first at the park on our walk back from school, we often leave when one wants the toilet, so when we arrive back at ours I remind them all to go to the toilet if they need to and all have a hand wash, because they always like snacks straight after the park, I know that will be the next ask 😂

We’re British (living overseas) and wash our hands when we get home. Wouldn’t dream of asking guests. Naturally we offer the bathroom to wash hands before serving food. With a new born we asked people to wash or gel their hands before cuddles. This is the norm for most people I know (all health care workers admittedly).

You’ll find the midwife or health visitor will have used gel after touching the last baby and before touching yours. Just as they would in hospital. They won't ask to use your sink as that won’t be the cleanest option in everybody’s house!