AIBU or is DH? - loo rolls for art/play

[JumpJockey]

I will honestly accept the opinion of MN majority on this one even if it means admitting he was right .

This morning dd was playing at trumpeting through the middle of an old kitchen roll. I went into the bathroom and picked up an empty loo roll tube off the window ledge for her to try, in case it made a different sound. DH (who is a doctor) frowned and said "No thanks, that can go in the bin". I noted that generations of children and Blue Peter presenters had been using loo roll middles for art/craft etc and nobody had died. He insisted that the presence of the loo roll in the bathroom meant it could have picked up horrible germs and wasn't safe.

Who was BU? Me, to potentially risk dd catching god knows what bathroom borne diseases? Or DH, for being massively over-worried?

Lots of schools have banned them which is a right royal pain in the rear considering you don't use nearly enough kitchen roll unless you're on a TV advert to get a good lot for art and craft... coupled with the hideous decline of Smarties tubes it's a sad day for making junk out of cardboard all in all.

I believe the logic is that there might be some of the... ahem... stuff you use loo roll for... on the tube. Personally my opinion is it's a load of... the stuff you use loo roll for - but theoretical risks are risks and we have to bubble wrap and disinfect everything these days.

Get using the kitchen roll I guess.

We collected kitchen roll middles for craft, but loo roll middles were not allowed; could have poo on them.

YANBU. But then again my DD uses them as telescopes when she hunts for treasure

She's not been majorly ill at all. It's never occurred to me or anyone else DD plays pirates with that loo rolls are dirty.

I think it is one of those just-in-case things. A donor of loo roll middles might have hepatitis? Or something?

Personally I wouldn't use them. However I buy wrapping paper for birthdays on rolls (it is cheaper, I just buy a colour suitable for anyone) and we use the middles out of those. :)

I agree with your dh (but I am a nurse )

I know various doctor/nurse types who are OCD scrupulous about hygiene and cleanliness.
For some reason, theirs seem to be the kids who get asthma, eczema etc
Co-incidence?

As nanny used to say, you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die.

There was something on Radio 4 earlier in the week about children's health being improved from having access to some good old germs. Made me feel much better.

Bunty - a donor of anything might have hepatitis.

Wouldn't give it to school but would happily play/make stuff with them in my own house.

I suppose it depends if you/DH/DCs have especially wee-y or poo-ey hands when you use the loo, and if you ever actually touch the cardboard inside roll thingy with those hands.

Anyway, it should go in the recycling not the bin.

I use them all the time for art/craft and am generally about all the GERMS arguments, OTOH I would be a bit loathe to actually blow into one like a trumpet.

My kids don't have asthma/eczema.

also they have very few tummy bug type illnesses. dd2 is 3 and has never been to the GP.

if the bathroom is such a terrible breeding ground for germs surely you shouldn't keep toothbrushes in the bathroom...or face towels....or flannels, god knows what you could pick up from those....

Good lord! Never even thought about it TBH. And it should go in the recycling not the bin

Don't understand the logic of kitchen rolls OK though, if toilet rolls aren't. What about salmonella, e-coli etc?

"Germs" are almost as bad as "toxins" or (the very worst) "chemicals".

I think your DH is being unreasonable.

I work in an infant school and we allow, and reguarly used, toiler toll inners in craft, I allow DD to at hom for craft too.

Good point whoneedssleep. And the kitchen roll might have picked up salmonella.

Personally I would use the loo roll middles. And I'm pretty sure the dc's schools have also requested them for craft projects. And I live in the US where they are much more germ-conscious generally. They have instructions for medical-grade handwashing in the pre-school toilets.

coatgate I am not a medic but I do know that!
hepatitis was only an example as I think it can be transmitted? Maybe I am wrong.

I just think a donor of, say, washing up liquid bottles is less likely to have accidently got poo on those.

I survived using loo roll inserts (stoic expression). But then I grew up in the 80s and was allowed to fall over and all sorts.

He's being OTT if you ask me.

Really?? I've never heard of this!

My eldest two are 19 & 21 and they used to save up all the loo rolls to take in to playschool and then school. They survived!!

Imo YANBU .

I've been told by our previous nursery school teacher that they have to be blasted in the microwave for a few seconds which gets rid of the germs before they can be brought to the school. Another Mum who works in a school agreed at the time that it was standard procedure.

I just ccepted their greater wisdom s just the way things are now!

In his defence he did subsequently say "the composting bin". He's not a complete cleanliness obsessive, dd regularly comes in from the garden eating mud, snails etc. (she's nearly 2)

So no real consensus then? I pointed out to him that since I'd picked it up off the loo roll holder and put it on the window ledge to be disposed of later, after washing my post-wee hands, surely the risk of germiness was no greater than touching the loo seat/bathroom tap. But I take the point about not using it like a trumpet. :)

I've never been asked to microwave them. Interesting.
Can you tell if they've been nuked or not then?