Bleaching Toys

[sharlan]

Anybody else feel like they are bleaching the toys more than the kids are playing with them?

[Country Kids]

My kids play with every single toy EVERY day. I only have 2 3 shelve bookcases and each shelf only has two baskets of toys on them. Then I have one huge baskets of big duplo blocks in the middle of them.

[daycare]

Anybody else feel like they are bleaching the toys more than the kids are playing with them?

I only allow one bin out at a time....at the end of the day it gets rotated out. SO only the ones taht get played with are the ones that get cleaned.....

[sharlan]

I have manipulatives (Legos, etc) on a table in the living room, a large basket of toys in the family room for the babies, and then misc toys in the playroom for all.

It just seems that with everybody getting sick lately, I'm spending a lot of time bleaching and sanitizing.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Dishwasher!

[EchoMom]

Ok ok, I hope I don't get jumped on for this, but I gave up bleaching/disinfecting. I make sure toys are CLEAN but as far as germ free? Forget it, losing battle and doesn't seem to really matter anyway. Nobody's been sick since last winter and now I'm sure everyone will pass around their colds this winter too but I've really learned that it just can't be controlled.

Sick happens, deal with it. LOL

[MNMum]

Ok ok, I hope I don't get jumped on for this, but I gave up bleaching/disinfecting. I make sure toys are CLEAN but as far as germ free? Forget it, losing battle and doesn't seem to really matter anyway. Nobody's been sick since last winter and now I'm sure everyone will pass around their colds this winter too but I've really learned that it just can't be controlled.

Sick happens, deal with it. LOL

I'm with you! I felt like we were getting sick a lot last year, so I went crazy with the bleach and cleaning. It did not help at all, it took a ton of time, and ruined many toys. So now I clean as needed, but do not go overboard.

[lovemykidstoo]

A couple of years ago, I started a new thing. I went from room to room, one at a time and opened a window for an hour during the winter. For the rooms that had doors, I would open the window and close the door. Got fresh air in each room and got the cooties out. I would do this once a week. I don't know if it helped, but it was our healthiest winter. That's the problem with the germs in the winter, they come in, but they can't get out. Not enough fresh air.

[Country Kids]

A couple of years ago, I started a new thing. I went from room to room, one at a time and opened a window for an hour during the winter. For the rooms that had doors, I would open the window and close the door. Got fresh air in each room and got the cooties out. I would do this once a week. I don't know if it helped, but it was our healthiest winter. That's the problem with the germs in the winter, they come in, but they can't get out. Not enough fresh air.

I actually talked to someone in ER one time and asked why, oh why do they keep it so cold in there. They said that it keeps the germs wwwwaaaayyyy down! So I started keeping our house a little cooler after that. Seemed to work some what.

[countrymom]

Ok ok, I hope I don't get jumped on for this, but I gave up bleaching/disinfecting. I make sure toys are CLEAN but as far as germ free? Forget it, losing battle and doesn't seem to really matter anyway. Nobody's been sick since last winter and now I'm sure everyone will pass around their colds this winter too but I've really learned that it just can't be controlled.

Sick happens, deal with it. LOL

I'm with you 100% as a matter of fact, its very rare kids get sick here in my house, even my own children are rarely sick. I think cleaning of toys is just plain crazy. I wipe them down when they are dirty but thats it.

[countrymom]

A couple of years ago, I started a new thing. I went from room to room, one at a time and opened a window for an hour during the winter. For the rooms that had doors, I would open the window and close the door. Got fresh air in each room and got the cooties out. I would do this once a week. I don't know if it helped, but it was our healthiest winter. That's the problem with the germs in the winter, they come in, but they can't get out. Not enough fresh air.

acually its a proven fact that you need to open the windows in the winter to get the germs out. I read an article many years ago and they did a study about it. I do it here too, esp. in my kids bedrooms pee you!

[EchoMom]

acually its a proven fact that you need to open the windows in the winter to get the germs out. I read an article many years ago and they did a study about it. I do it here too, esp. in my kids bedrooms pee you!

Anyone have a link to an article about that? Not challenging you, I woudl just love to learn more about it! Guess I'll go google it. PS, it's freezing outside and I've got the playroom window open as we speak. It gets so stuffy all closed up! And I always have fans on to move the air around!

[MarinaVanessa]

I just cut down on the amount of toys that I have out at once and I buy toys that are easy to throw in the washer/dryer or dishwasher. Instead of having a lot of toys out, I have a large amount of a few toys.

I buy used toys like blocks, duplo's, mega blocks, lincoln logs, wooden train sets etc used from CL so I have large bins filled with them. Then I only have about 3 large bins and about 4 or 5 smaller bins of toys out all at once that I rotate. It's easy to just dunk the wooden toys and lay them to dry, throw the plastic toys in the dishwasher and throw plush toys in the washer. Another reason why I don't buy battery operated toys ::.

[sharlan]

My windows are always open, unless the AC or heater is on. I rarely use either one.

In all of my years of daycare, I've never had so much illness run through the whole group. It never mattered - flu, HFM, chicken pox, pink eye - one or two people got it. I never eliminated or sent sick kids home, except for high fevers or vomiting. This darn tummy bug has hit 11 people since last Fri.

We're having something hit once a month. July - sinus infections, August - pink eye, Sept - strept throat, and now the tummy bug.

[Blackcat31]

A couple years ago I bought this book. "Why Dirt is Good". http://www.amazon.com/reader/1427798...der_1427798044

I do not overly sanitize or bleach. I believe that we need some germs in the grand scheme of things and bleaching and sterilizing too much is harmful IMHO.

Here is a snippet from the book about germs and immune systems:

Your immune system has been exquisitely fine-tuned by millions of years of evolution to let you live in balance, more or less with all the many dangerous micro-organisms or germs that are out there. But to do that your immune system needs to be exposed to germs to build the ability to produce the right response quickly.

If you were somehow raised in a completely sterile environment, where all harmful germs were eliminated, your immune system would never get activated.

The following 5 rules are crucial for developing a healthy immune system:

• 1. Let them eat dirt. Exposure to dirt helps children build strong immune systems that will provide life-long protection.
• 2. Use it or lose it. Your immune system needs exercise just like the rest of your body does.
• 3. Don't encourage superbugs. Avoid anti-microbics, such as anti-bacterial soaps and antibiotic drugs whenever possible.
• 4. Keep vaccines up to date. Vaccines give you safe, effective immunity the easy way.
• 5. Always ask first "What would Mother Nature do?" Common sense is the best cure for common infections. Save drugs for when they are really needed.

I rarely have sick kiddos here so I figure there must be something that rings true in the book. I clean when necessary but as far as belaching and sanitizing goes, I do that maybe once a season when I sort out and rotate toys.