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?

Yes you are being unreasonable and are out of synch with norms.

I’ve never in nearly 6 decades been asked by anyone to wash my hands when entering their home nor has anyone visiting me ever asked to use my bathroom when visiting me to wash theirs, nor have I ever seen anyone wash their hands when entering their own home.

This is a you do you thing I think. If you want to wash your own hands to this extent have at it, but if you ask your guests to do this too many will find that to be very odd!

I would be massively pissed off if someone told me to wash my hands on entry to their house. Not that it has ever happened.

Do you think they have been playing with dog shit or something?

I don't remember supervising my own DC hand washing after about the age of six! I'm buggered if I'm going to start supervising random adults now.

Basic hygiene. I wish everyone would do this. Gross not to. I might feel sheepish asking people to do this but I think it's the right thing to do. I wash my hands everything I come home and I sanitise at others'.

I think washing your hands before eating is normal in several cultures but not all.
I wouldn't expect it of anyone and certainly wouldn't ask adults to do it.
If dc had been getting muddy in the garden I might think to but I'm pretty relaxed about it. Living in a sterile environment isn't actually good for us.

Basic hygiene though isn't it, especially at this time of year.

I always wash my hands when I come in from doing the shopping or work. . . . it has never occured to me to suggest that I wash them when I arrive at someone else's home, but, acually,if the offer was made "Would you like to wash your hands?" I might well take someone up on it.
Maybe you could phrase it as a question to adults (but just tell pre-teen kids to do it)?

You can’t expect anything off anyone. Why do you feel you should expect this??

YABU. Unless you have a serious condition maybe that requires high levels of cleanliness or you're in the middle of a pandemic 🤷‍♀️

Well, I guess it's her house, her rules. Is it that hard to wash hands? Jeez.

Disinfectant footbath, hand sanitizer and a vigorous spray of anti-bacterial/anti-viral is the way to go @SillyFillyDress

No I wouldn't. Never even occurred to me.

I do wash my hands when I get back from shopping and when I get in from work.

If a kid came to ours with muddy/dirty hands I wouldn't be thrilled as our house is all white so wouldn't appreciate muddy hands everywhere!

I am with you on this op. Not many are though. We aren’t weird. Just very hygienic. My husband is the same as me.

Do agree at present with a 9 week old baby recently hospitalised with bronchiolitis after testing positive for RSV. But wouldn’t usually, though I wish this was the norm especially in cold and flu season. We’d all be healthier with higher hand hygiene standards

I thought this was going to be about holding a new born baby, or visiting an immune compromise person. If someone randomly and without exceptional circumstances asked me to wash my hands on arrival I would leave!

I’d ask children to wash their hands before eating, otherwise no, and I’d never ask adults. I’d think it very weird and frankly a case of an OTT hygiene-obsession* if anyone did.

*not exactly unknown on MN!

If someone asked me to wash my hands on arrival I would assume they had OCD or similar.

Actually the world recently got very ill and a lot of people died.

Welcome to life in the 21st century.

No harm in asking people, perhaps have a tub of disinfecting hand wipes or gel to offer.

I always use the gel in hospitals, both going in and out - also carry sachets of wipes in my bag for when I'm eating out.

There's a difference between being fastidious or OCD about it and taking precautions.

I don’t have a rule that expects visitors to my house to wash their hands, because I’m chill and certainly not unhygienic.

I never worry about this stuff, I don’t routinely wash my hands after getting public transport and I almost never get bugs or colds.

And I have a chronic illness, so I don’t take health for granted. I just don’t think it’s healthy to obsess about being around germs when they’re everywhere anyway.

Anytime I’ve got a cold in the last couple of years it’s been after a trip on public transport. Yeah hand san after the bus is a good idea.

Sounds very OTT germophobe and not a normal request at all!

Very weird. If you want to wash your hands every time you come home knock yourself out. Not reasonable to expect others to love by your OTT rules.

Not so much about catching anything, but my hands always feel a bit sticky after strap hanging on the tube 🤣🤢

@SillyFillyDress When you visit friends and family do they ask you to wash you're hands? I would hazard a guess of no unless they have a newborn or are immunocompromised .