Fatherly Stuff: What do Autumn, Handwashing and Petri Dishes Have in Common?

Sep 24, 2013

What do Autumn, Handwashing and Petri Dishes Have in Common?



Even though I was born a summer baby, I will be the first to admit that fall is my favorite season. Comfortable weather, beautiful scenery, apple/pumpkin picking and deep fried junk food from state fairs are all hallmarks of autumn that I look forward to sharing with my family every year. 

However, with all of the good things that come with it, there are also some negatives that we all have to deal with.  Along with golden leaves and hot apple cider, also comes the stuffy, runny noses, sore throats and fevers. 

Indeed, cold and flu season is among us.

The combination of people in close quarters and the low humidity indoors is the perfect environment for bacteria to thrive and infect the unsuspecting population. This goes double if you or even someone you work closely with has kids that go to school or daycare. Between the exchanging of toys, books and who knows what else, our precious little children suddenly become walking, giggling chemical weapons of mass destruction strong enough to force even the most stubborn of parents into a fetal position, surrounded by used tissues and empty packets of cold medicine wrappers.

With this in mind, I'd like to share a story with you:

A Tale of Two Petris

Prior to the birth of our 2nd child, my wife worked as a kindergarten teacher at a private school. In her classroom one of the biggest rules was both the student and parents had to wash their hands each time they walked in the door. Despite this rule being in place for the good of the greater population a lot of the children and surprisingly, the parents would complain that them having to do this on a daily basis was annoying. 

However, the objections soon came to a screeching halt after the class was introduced to the petri dish experiment. One of the student’s parents was scientist who studied infectious diseases. In order to help my wife teach the class about the importance of washing their hands they conducted an experiment;
Each student in the class was asked to wash their hands and after drying them, their hands were wiped with a cotton swab and placed in petri dishes with each of their names on it. The class then went outside for recess and samples were once again taken from their hands before they got a chance to wash them. The “clean” and “dirty” cultures were put on a shelf in the classroom and less than 24 hours, they were pulled out and observed by the class.

While the "clean hands" sample has only a minimal amount of bacteria culture, the "dirty hands" culture contained a host of harmful germs such a streptococcus and even E. Coli. The students, the teachers and especially the parents were pretty surprised at the results and how quickly the cultures grew.  You can check out the pictures below:


"Clean Hands" culture

"Dirty Hands" culture

So what is the moral of this story? One of the best things you can do to protect you and your family from contracting any kind of sickness is to make sure that everyone is thoroughly washing their hands with soap and hot water for the length of time that it takes to recite the alphabet, or 20 seconds. This should be especially done prior to eating a meal and when coming from indoors. Why is the length of time important? Take a look at the "clean hands" picture again. Notice the two on the bottom left? Well according to my wife, these were two kids who did not follow the 20 second rule and washed their hands too quickly.While there isn't a much bacteria on those two petris compared to that of the "dirty hands", it is still a considerable amount and has the potential to get you sick.

There is a lot of very helpful information about the importance of hand washing on the Center for Disease Control's Website

So if you have anyone in you life that is resistant to the idea of washing their hands properly, just show them these pictures and I'm sure they will reconsider


If you liked this post, consider following us on Twitter or Instagram. You can also "Like"  on Facebook

28 comments:

  1. WOW! That's a definite way to get people to wash their hands more often.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I make sure my kids always wash their hands, especially after using the bathroom. If I didn't insist I think my boys would always be sick. That was a really great experiment. I'll have to show this to my sons who think it's ok to not wash.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I actaully have the kids sing to Happy Birthday while they wash, it gets them to stand there longer. It's so important to wash throughout the day!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I saw this neat thing to put over our hand wash. When you press down it plays music. It encourages my granddaughter to was her hands because she likes to hear the music play1

    ReplyDelete
  5. Its so important to make sure everyone washes their hands properly i am a bit OCD when it comes to things like this

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was such a hand washing freak when my Grandkids were small that my one Granddaughter would wash her hands until she had me saying.... Thats enough now, your hands are clean. If everyone washed there hands... I don't think the germs would stand a chance. But sadly, not everyone washes.

    ReplyDelete
  7. How awesome of an experiment! It really does show kids what we mean when we say you need to wash your hands :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a nice trick, haha! I'm sure this will engage kids to be really clean and hygienic! <3

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a great way to get kids to wash their hands more!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great way to prove a point. I am always on my dh about washing his hands. And having raised boys, it was a constant struggle.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ew ew ewwww - what an amazing way to prove a point though! x

    ReplyDelete
  12. Washing your hands is such a simple thing to do, and nothing annoys me more than seeing people leave the restroom without doing it. YUCK!

    ReplyDelete
  13. That is a fantastic Science experiment to conduct in a classroom! I wish our classes did this experiment to help my kids realize how important it is to wash their hands. So I don't have to keep reminding them.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Washing hands really doesn't take that long. My kiddo loves washing her hands.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I wish I had thought of this experiment when I was teaching 1st grade. I bet I could have gotten some people to wash their hands!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This sounds like such a great experiment to do with little kids who don't really understand the importance of washing hands! Heck, I even know some adults who could benefit from seeing the results of this experiment. ;) LOL

    ReplyDelete
  17. A good message to share, and I love how you did it!

    ReplyDelete
  18. That is a great lesson for students and parents alike. I am going to share this with my grandchildren.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am a serious germaphobe so this grosses me out. It is a great way to teach children the importance of hand washing though.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Great post and interesting information. Hand washing is so important in any setting to stay healthy and I love that these kids are being taught this at an early age.

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a great way to teach children (and some parents) the importance of washing their hands. Fortunately my little one is really good about making sure she washes hers as often as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I wish they would have this experiment in every school and at every grade level..Need to remind the kids all the time to wash their hands.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Ugh, I've been trying to keep the tissues and sanitizer flowing in my classroom. I always get sick from the germs in my classroom when it is back to school.

    ReplyDelete
  24. WOW this is so interesting to see! gross to see all that bacteria but really reinforces my rule here at home of washing hands before eating...

    ReplyDelete
  25. My son got sick as soon as the whole fall pollen season thing began 2 weeks ago. Plus he's back in school where everyone is packed together, sick or not. It's been fun...

    ReplyDelete
  26. Nice to see the difference between dirty and clean hands on those perti dishes. My kids loves washing their hands :D

    ReplyDelete
  27. Really great way to get the message across - My son is kind of a clean fanatic already, but it occurs to me I could probably wash mine more, not just after using the restroom or cleaning.

    ReplyDelete
  28. we are doing a lot of handwashing these days - i just posted about worms because we weren't sure if we had them (no real symptoms, but living in India and eating food at restaurants is a risk!)

    ReplyDelete