To expect my son to wash his hands when he gets in?

[Whyareyousoannoying]

Ds 16yo has been at work or college, come home on public transport.

Aibu to expect him to wash his hands upon arriving home before he starts touching everything especially the fridge, food, cups etc. he will walk straight in and start going in the fridge making a drink not washing his hands.

When I ask him he shouts at me and calls me a germ phobe.

Everyone else in the house manages to wash their hands when they get in.

@DappledThings

there is a need for it though. Especially if you’ve been using public transport. Or at the supermarket holding a trolley. Etc etc. your hands WILL have germs on. just wash your hands, ffs - it’s hardly like it takes a long time is it?!

@Mama2many73

your floor must be filthy

@Zanatdy

well your mum is not a very good germaphobe cos washing your hands when you home is basic

First thing we all do especially the children on public transport is wash their hznds.
Basic hygiene, especially during the winter flu season.

Are people still not aware that hand sanitiser is no use against norovirus.

Oh no! 😲 we also have a dog and we don't wash him daily?!
My house is clean, as a foster carer i often have SS here without issue. I hoover and mop daily, so nope it's not dirty and if there was dirt so what!
You can have uour choices and beliefs , live by them, but also accept that some people live differently, not worse, without negative effects on their lives!
I literally know nobody who insists you remove shoes and none of them have dropped down dead due to dirt!

Your hands have germs on all the time. I'm not going to suddenly start putting up signs in my home telling me to wash my hands every time I cross the threshold and I'm pretty sure nothing else is going to make me think of it.

@Mama2many73

but if you and everyone took their shoes off you wouldn’t have to hoover and mop daily! Make life easier for yourself!

Yeah I would because I have a large dog which moults copious amounts!! Our house isn't large . Takes a max of 30 mins to hoover and mop through downstairs .

And hand sanitiser is massively less effective than washing your hands. It is best used on clean (i.e. washed) hands if you need to use it, such as when someone in the house has an infection. Hand sanitiser is better than nothing, but if you wash your hands regularly (such as when you get in) you don't need to sanitise them.

We don't do this in our family-but if one person was made unhappy then we would. Of course. Because we care for each other and it's no big deal. He should do it.

Absolutely!

My daughter is a nurse. The large city hospital where she works has been full to capacity for weeks with very high numbers of patients with influenza and norovirus.

It makes perfect sense to me to wash my hands regularly especially after being on public transport. Nothing to do with being germ phobic. It’s a measure to reduce the spread of infection.

This thread just convinces me I need to keep washing my hands!

I read a statistic once that some percentage (not an insignificant one either) of public doorhandles have traces of semen on them 🤢 Bet that’d get your son washing OP!

Right?! People are nasty! It’s basic hygiene.

It seems that healthcare workers advocate for hand washing.

Ds was hospitalised with a sickness bug in 2010. He caught it from nursery. He was only a toddler.

I can remember the hospital staff back then talking saying that they'd had so many people in and that it's basic things like skipping handwashing that cause it to spread rapidly.

Like I say dh is very lucky and has never had a sickness bug. Touch wood I haven't since I was a child but I do have crohn's so get unwell anyway.

You might have an I'm alright Jack attitude but skipping basic hygiene could make someone else very sick.

Note-to-self: the public are a bunch of mingers.

Wouldn’t be something I’d be bothered about, nor do I insist on it, but it’s your house and not a massive imposition, so I think he should do as you ask.

some germs transmit by aerosol straight into your lungs, it's harder to avoid those although there are ways you can minimise that risk, or by touching droplets or lumps of stuff that someone else has ejected one of their body holes, then giving it a route into your body.

so if you touch stuff on public transport or shops that loads of other people have been touching all day, you are likely smearing traces of their bodily fluids or shit on your hands. When you get home, where you have multiple sinks and soap you think it's stupid to bother washing that stuff off, instead you move around the house scratching your eye, preparing and eating food, or just leaving it around for other people to pick up, touching doorhandles, worktops, unloading the dishwasher, picking up your kids toys. lush. wouldn't want to be a germphobe though, we all benefit from a bit of someone else's shit or bogies as part of our daily diet 👍

My deceased Mil used to pick her nose. She she ended up with chronic sinusitis caused by numerous bacterial infections that led to sepsis.
At 82 years old she was sat in her hospital bed with the doctor trying to explain to her how important it was to wash her hands frequently while she was having a right good dig around up her nose as though the doctor wasn't even there.
It used to turm my stomach to watch her doing it.

@Flopsythebunny yikes!

What about the dogs? Do they have to kean their paws before walking around the house?🐩

*clean

It’s not norovirus I’m particularly worried about as I’ve never had that that, I just don’t want a cold.