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.

@biscuitsandbooks you're confusing touching surfaces with things just being outside.

I've already explained. My shoes coat and bag go in the cupboard.

My clothes aren't covered in germs just because they've been outside.

By your logic why even bother washing your hands Ayer using the toilet? Your clothes have been in the toilet with you after all.

Your hands are the things you touch everything with.

During the pandemic we were advised to wash our hands. We weren't advised to wash our clothes, bags and coats.

No, it doesn't even take a minute of his time to do it. We all Wash our hands when we get home in my household :)

My clothes aren't covered in germs just because they've been outside.

Of course they are

But that’s not the OP with the immunocompromised family member. Unless she’s had a name change fail.

I sent everyone to the sink as soon as they/we enter the house from outside

So why then are we always advised to wash hands during an outbreak of illness? We are not advised to wash all our clothes.

Norovirus was going round the school. Public health advice was to wash hands frequently.

I feel like you are deliberately being goady when most people understand that there are reasons for handwashing.

Yeah, I was my hands whenever I get in, and also when I get to work

In the normal way of things, I wouldnt insist on this, no. However, with around 25% of the population ill at the moment and a very nasty flu and norovirus rampaging around I think it is sensible to wash your hands when coming in from public transport etc.

Of course YANBU to ask him to wash his hands before getting into things in the kitchen. Washing hands is the first step in doing anything in the kitchen, including pawing through the refrigerator and the cabinets.

I don't understand all the people saying YABU while adding "as long as he washes before food prep." When you're in the midst of cooking you are going to be opening and closing the refrigerator and cabinets and touching the worktop so of course you want the last people to have touched those surfaces to have washed their hands first. You're not asking him to take a damn bleach bath.

I wash my hands when I get in, especially if I've been on public transport.

Your house, your rules....

Ah so it’s not their fault they’re disgusting. They are just thick. They think if their hands ‘don’t look dirty’ then it’s ok. Jeez. And to think they walk among us and are ignorantly spreading viruses and bacteria.

I haven't actually said there aren't reasons for hand-washing. Of course it has plenty of benefits.

It's just not a hill I would choose to die on with a 16 year old. I also can't say I've ever paid any kind of attention to whether anyone I've lived with has washed their hands on coming home or not. I don't see it as any of my business.

Interesting…we wash our hands immediately when we get in and are always sick! Maybe we should stop? We do have a 6 year old and 2 year old at nursery though…

Looks like most people don’t but I ask my kids to do so after coming back from school as I know they are about to eat… but they usually go straight to the loo anyway

I've already explained numerous times that he came straight in while I was cooking and started touching the food, opening the fridge, opening the cupboards, handling the fruit and putting it back.

I'm not sure how much clearer I can be.

It's my business if he's handling food that everyone is going to eat.

I agree that it's a good habit if you've been out - and I'm honestly very far from a germophobe. Never used to make the kids wash their hands after nursery until we all got worms :/ now everyone is made to wash their hands when we get in!

It’s so odd to me to say someone is a Germaphobe, for washing their hands. Op isn’t enforcing a strict wash your hands every 15 minutes rule. It’s just like after you’ve been the toilet, before you prep food, When you come home, and if you blow your nose/sneeze. It really does show how dirty people are. As pp said the pandemic amazed me that people were shocked about the spread of germs and handwashing really did seem new to people. You can tell people are dirty when they say their hands don’t ‘feel’ dirty when they get home. That’s because they’re so used to the feeling of grub 😂😂

Well ds (the 16yo with questionable hygiene) is by far the sickliest one in the house.

Everyone else just washes their hands.

I expect often it's just down to luck. But washing your hands certainly isn't going to do any harm.

None of us do this and no one in my house has ever had a sick bug. Dc are 11 and 15. Never had to deal with sick. I still remember the one time I was sick as a child (once not a prolonged bug) I was sick on the floor as I didn't recognise the feeling. I was 6 years old so 39 years ago!

Well it COULD, depending what you use. Plain soap probably fine (if not excessive). But anything antibacterial actually attacks your native bacterial colonies too, and it's this flora (all over your skin including your hands) that crowd out any nasty invaders which could cause you to get ill. Basically, keep your normal skin bacteria happy and you shouldn't need to worry about having touched the rail on the tube.

@liveforsummer but how do you think sickness bugs are spread?

Ok so you've never had a sickness bug. I don't think my dh has either.

But nhs advice is to wash hands, are you saying that the advice is incorrect?

Perhaps you are just lucky or aren't susceptible to sickness.

YANBU.
It's normal to wash hand between coming from outside and touching food.

Just people on MN like to be performatively gross and put OP down, even if they are saying effectively the same thing.

If it's important to you then he should do it. It's not a big thing to ask. I didn't before COVID and now I mostly do if I've been on public transport.

Same