Child of 2020: Toddler mistakes street furniture for hand sanitizer

Child of 2020: Toddler repeatedly mistakes street furniture for hand sanitizer and keeps stopping to clean her hands in bittersweet footage

  • One-year-old Landry from Dallas, Texas, stops to use ‘hand sanitizer’ on walks
  • Her mother Katie Lightfoot captured the youngster pressing on random objects 
  • Landry, a child of 2020, pushes dispenser-shaped items before rubbing hands

A bittersweet clip captures a toddler, who has grown up during the coronavirus pandemic, mistaking random objects for hand sanitizers and trying to clean her hands.

The video, filmed by the child’s mother Katie Lightfoot, from Richardson, Dallas, Texas, shows Landry, who was born shortly before 2020, reaching for the sanitizer whenever she sees a similar object.

Adorably the youngster is seen pressing on the dispenser-shaped items before diligently rubbing her hands together, showing the everyday precautions that she only knows as normality.

Mrs Lightfoot shared the clip to her Facebook with the caption: ‘When your first year of life is 2020, everything is a hand sanitizing station…’

In the video the toddler is seen stopping and pressing on power outlets, a brick wall and street lights, which she believes to be hand sanitising stations, whilst on walks with her mother. 

When the pair finally reach a real sanitising station, on their way into church, Landry is unable to reach and makes her frustration known.

The clip was met with a mix response on social media as some found the girl’s mistake adorable whilst others deemed the video a sad reflection of the time we are living in.

The one-year-old, Landry, stops at a power outlet at the base of a tree whilst on a walk with her mother Katie Lightfoot in Richardson, Texas

After pressing on a path light sticking from the ground the youngster diligently rubs her hands together

The youngster seems to enjoy the hygienic habit as she stops multiple times on the walk

After pressing on a path light sticking from the ground the youngster diligently rubs her hands together

Landry reaches down to press a street light she believes is a hand sanitiser dispenser

Landry reaches down to press a street light she believes is a hand sanitiser dispenser

One Facebook user, Lowanda Davis-McBride, wrote: ‘This cutie right here. It’s sad these babies are going to be excited about a hand sanitizer stand.

‘I remember the days when babies would be excited about a water fountain. The times we are living in.’

Whilst Becky Hale Heydt commented: ‘This is so sad! She should be just enjoying everything around her!’  

Another wrote: ‘What a way to have to grow up! Such an adorable little girl!!’

Others suggested learning the hygienic habit was a good thing, writing: ‘She will be healthier for her hand sanitizing. We all should continue long after this pandemic.’   

When the family finally reach their destination the toddler is visibly upset that she cannot reach the real hand sanitising station

When the family finally reach their destination the toddler is visibly upset that she cannot reach the real hand sanitising station

Filipa Santos took a different view, writing: ‘Horrible. Constant gel alcohol is no good for anyone, much less for children/babies… They shouldn’t encourage this behavior.’

The FDA has warned parents to ‘store hand sanitizer out of the reach of pets and children’ and to only allow children to use the gel with adult supervision.

It states: ‘Young children, especially toddlers, may be attracted by the pleasant smell or brightly colored bottles of hand sanitizer.

‘Drinking even a small amount of hand sanitizer can cause alcohol poisoning in children. (However, there is no need to be concerned if your children eat with or lick their hands after using hand sanitizer.)’

The authority added that poison control centers had seen ‘an increase in calls about accidental ingestion of hand sanitizer’ during the pandemic.