The elementary school where my children attend is an excellent school in every way so this is purely a means of suggesting an idea to see if other parents agree. Instead of washing hands before lunch, probably for the sake of efficiency which is totally understandable, the kids line up to get a squirt of antibacterial hand gel. Above all, I appreciate the effort to keep the kids healthy. I think this can be improved however by going back to the old-fashioned hand washing for the following reasons: (1) it's a lifelong habit to promote health, (2) the contents of antibacterial hand cleaners have been linked to bad health problems for users who may ingest some of the remnants when they eat after 'washing,' and (3) fighting off bacteria isn't always necessary when you wash your hands, kid or adult, and may encourage resistant strains of bacteria. If time is the problem, I am all for cutting a minute off of every other period if it means they can wash their hands before lunch, rather than getting a squirt.
