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The Handwashing Song
Singing the Germs Away
The 4-year-old I babysit for is convinced that if he doesn’t sing “the ABC song” all the way through as he washes his hands, the hand-washing is entirely futile.
“Washing without singing will not remove the germs,” he tells me. He also believes that germs will remain on your hands if you get the lyrics wrong. “And you have to sing the song out loud,” he says.
Singing to yourself won’t do any good. Apparently, the germs have to hear you singing.
Singing another song similar in length won’t do the trick, either.
“What if I sing ‘America The Beautiful?” I ask. “Will the germs respond to that?”
He looks at me like I’m an idiot. And why wouldn’t he? If the germs want to hear “the ABC song,” what kind of fool would sing them “America the Beautiful?”
Noah learned about the germ-vanquishing song from his father, who is scrupulous about cleanliness. His mother, Noah confides, doesn’t agree with his father about the hand-washing song. She’s told Noah that not only don’t you have to sing to the end of the song, you don’t have to sing anything at all!
“She says all I need to get rid of germs is lots of soap and hot water,” he reports, sounding skeptical. “What do you think?”
