Weekend Science

Early yesterday morning my son used the bathroom when he woke up. I heard the toilet flush as I was snuggling, all cozy in my bed. Then I heard footsteps heading downstairs. Ummmm, did he not WASH HIS HANDS!? (he's 11)

I levitated out of bed, floated down the stairs to find his UNWASHED HANDS on the CLEAN dishes as he unloaded the dishwasher.

Gathering my loving composure (!) I asked why he didn't WASH HIS HANDS. He shrugged.

"Do you know why we wash our hands"?

"Not really", he said.

Ah. Have I failed as a parent!? Instead of hyperventilating, I told him, "well, let me show you"!

We looked on YouTube for GERM VIDEOS (this was is our favorite-can't find it!).

It was great! We had awesome discussion about bacteria and filth (fun!) and both kids were eager to tell dad about the day's discoveries.

This led to my purchasing a set of 5 experiments for us to do with dad on the weekends. We are starting with heating soap in the microwave, more on that later!

UPDATE: 08/01/2011 - We haven't done any "Weekend Science" yet! We took on visiting lighthouses in Washington and hiking for the summer instead. This might be a GREAT family activity for the dark and cold winter months.