Angry parents have hit out at schools for leaving their children with “red raw hands” from washing them so much.
They say their youngsters are returning home “crying in pain” after scrubbing them up to 10 times a day to stay Covid-safe.
And they claim it is “just too much”, TeessideLive reports.
Parents in Teesside are now urging schools to ease up with the hand-washing regime.
One mum whose daughters came home with irritated skin said it's not so much the soaps or gels used by the school.
Instead, it’s caused by the sheer volume of handwashing they are required to do.
She has told her children they must go against the school's orders and not wash as often, after trying "every cream" and finding they all sting.
The mum said: “I'm all for good hand hygiene and keeping others safe, but I just can't bear my boys crying in pain every night.
"School has been really understanding, to be fair.
"But they seem to be just accepting of us all trying to treat the problem, instead of them trying to prevent it in the first place.
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"I have specifically instructed mine not to wash so often.
"It's not the soap or gel but more the frequency and lack of readily-available moisturiser."
Another mum-of-two said her doctor had seen a "queue of mums", all with children who had irritated skin.
She said: "I think it's shocking that the poor kids are being left with red raw hands like this.
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"It's all well and good making them scrub their hands and then sanitise them with gel – but what about moisturising them?
"My son's hands have been so sore he's been crying and when I took him to the doctors, the GP said he's had a queue of mums bring their children for the same thing."
One mum claimed her child had been given a steroid cream and had "loads of small cuts where the skin is broken."
And another mum said: "My daughter has sensitive skin anyway, but washing their hands 9-10 times a day before meals, in between meals, after the toilet, when they get to school and leave school, is just too much.”
Mums have been recommending heavy duty emollient creams while others say the handwashing has reached "ridiculous" levels.
One claimed that without providing a moisturiser, schools are “actually breaching health safety guidelines”.
The NHS recommends handwashing as one of the easiest ways to protect against illnesses and viruses.
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