to wonder why people let their DC play with the toys at GP/hospital?

[thewintercene]

Today we spent 3 hours in a paediatric waiting room in our local hospital.

Unless someone disinfects those windy wires and beads several times a day, the logic of having one or two toys in a doctor's or hospital's reception or paediatric rooms completely defies me.

Tens of (high probability ill or carrying something from a sibling who is doctor-worthy) children passing through every day, fingering everything.

Obviously soft play is like this too, but it's not a doctor's or hospital where people go when they're ill.

Also, why, when you have a child who is ill already, would you want to risk compounding the problem by having them potentially catch something else?

I'm thinking mainly vomiting bugs here, which are of course highly contagious, you can't ever have immunity for long, and are at a 5 year high this year. There were warnings about it all over our local hospital, and reminders about hand washing, yet nobody seemed to bloody disinfect the toys the whole 3 hours we were there, and when about 20 different children there for different reasons played with them - including one who pooed on the floor then played with the toy. Obviously the poo was cleared up, but the toy was never cleaned.

Jesus Christ

Glad I grew up when I did , when kids could be kids and our parents didn't worry about every single little fucking thing ! As for the vacs , I had one , anti polio, I never ever contracted what they are meant to protect against.

Get a Grip .

I'm the same in a and e, often kids with really high temperatures, holding sick bowls and if it's viral I assume the virus is a more serious one.
I take my own toys and a tablet and try to find a quiet corner...if poss!
In a GP I'd be a bit less bothered but still discourage (mine doesn't have any anyway).
Any where else, dentist etc, fine.

Being on the bus is honestly worse than a waiting room if you ask me.
Everyone side-eyes the other patients in case they've got something deadly, then piles happily onto a bus and spread their germs to innocent people who have to pass the hospital to get to the childminder.

A boy sneezed on me on Tuesday. I now have a hideous cold. Coincidence? I think not...

Most children in waiting rooms do not have nasty infections to pass on. The few times have taken ds with something that might spread, that isn't pleasant, he has stayed in his buggy. This is to avoid contact with other people and surfaces as much as it is the toys.
The one time I can think of that he probably did catch something at the surgery, he didn't go near the toys because there were other children playing in there, which he can't cope with.

I'm a bit of a germaphobe too (fear of vomiting), so I know where you're coming from OP, but I still let my DS play with the toys. Partly this is because he really wants too, it keeps him occupied and in his eyes ANY new toy (however gross and sticky) is better than the toys we would bring from home. But I also agree with others that once you're in the waiting room, as in any public place, you're exposed to load of things anyway on door handles, seats, railings etc. I think stopping him from playing with the toys would provide me with a false sense of security while frustrating my son needlessly.

Also, I really want my children to be more relaxed about this issue than I am, so I don't want to make them worry unduly about germs or getting sick.

We spend a lot of time in hospitals and clinics. I'm desperately grateful for the toys as there's a lot of waiting around and toddler DD would go bonkers without them.
In the main paeds outpatients department we go to, there's a sign saying the toys are cleaned daily but that we're also welcome to use the boxes of Clinell wipes that are scattered around the place to clean them.

We almost never have vomiting bugs in our house, one in 13 years (touch wood). I was not of the opinion that going in germy places where bugs spread easily is a good idea with little ones, as someone else said, norovirus is not something you can become immune to with exposure, nor for that matter are some colds/flu as they change over time.

I did let mine play with one toy at one drs surgery, but when we swapped to another one, where there were lots of random and not that clean looking toys, that was a no. I also used to sometimes decide not to go to playgroup if my lo had had a nasty cold, because all it was doing was spreading the germs to others/picking up more for the next week! Someone said what about toilets etc- when I've washed my hands, I don't use my hands to get out, I use my sleeve to open the door! We all wash our hands before eating, or touching animals as standard. Increasing hand-washing is a really obvious thing you can do to stop yourself and your family getting more colds/viruses/stomach bugs, since I started doing this religiously, I have about one cold a year, children the same.

I don't think I'm remotely phobic about germs, I don't give this a second's thought except in the moment. I have to say though I did used to feel sorry for some small toddlers with a permanent runny nose, and would see the snot hanging off, smearing it all over toys, and no, I wouldn't be rushing to 'let my children build up immunity' by picking them up a second later!

Try and stop and kid from playing with a toy! Good luck with that!

I have never met a toddler that would sit in a buggy for 3 hours without screaming the place down to get out. I would hate to sit still for 3 hours strapped into something so wouldn't blame a toddler for not being happy.
I am a bit of a germaphobe but I would just let them play with them as other people have said nursery and school will be worse.

I think me and DD would go out of our minds if there weren't toys to be played with in hospitals. We are constantly in and out for long stays and DD has clinic appointments and various other appointments every few weeks/months, so toys whilst waiting or staying in are our necessity some times!

My ds is 3 and no longer has a buggy. There's no way I'd tell him he can't play with the toys that are obviously there to be played with. We simply have him wash his hands after. Easy.

think i'm going to lay down in a dark room after reading this....
toys are wiped down ? jeez, more people are becoming neurotic about germs and grime, sterilizing wipes for everything nowadays,what happened to boring old washing hands with soap ?
if someone is autoimmune surpressed then yes, that is a different situation but for the best part it's called common sense whether you are out and about or at home.

Seriously? Try taking a four year old and a one year old to sit in a waiting room for a usually overrunning appointment and make them not play with toys in plain sight

Firstly if you are that paranoid about dealing with sickness you've got one hell of a shock coming and secondly

Wind your neck in judging others...why? Is that seriously the best thing you can do with your time....?

This is how special snowflakes are created

Hmmm. My child would go nuts if I said no to playing with the toys and made to sit still, however, I do give her hands a good wipe when we leave the doctors......

I really hope you didn't keep your child in a buggy for 3 hours.

Ds was in hospital for 3 weeks last year. I wonder what people like the op would do to keep them entertained without using the wards toys?

Let's weigh up the options:

1. Toddler get strapped into a buggy, gets bored, throws a tantrum and disturbs all the ill people in the waiting room.
2. Toddler plays with potentially germy toys but stays entertained and relatively quiet.

I know which one I would choose!

I suspect door handles are a far greater germ risk than toys tbh...

and the buggers are everywhere

If you don't want to let your kids play with the toys, that's fine. I have no problem with that; it's up to you.

But by phrasing your question 'Why do people let their children...' you're basically implying that you think other parents are stupid or negligent in making a different decision, and that's complete bollocks. They've weighed up the risk just like you have and they've come to a different and equally rational conclusion, that's all.

YANBU OP even though the older your DC gets the harder it will be to enforce.
When mine were less than two, they would wait sat on my lap and i would read them books I brought from home.
Now I let them play with the GP toys because it seem cruel to deny a sick child this small joy... but I wash their hands and face as soon as we come back home.

The difference between GP and softplay/nursery, is that at the GP you know that almost all children using the toys are sick with something worth visiting the GP. Much higher risk than everywhere else where statistically a good percentage will be well, another good percentage will have colds/coughs, and only a small percentage have something serious.

If it's a planned visit take your own special treat toys or books to read. If it's unplanned it's unfortunate but use your judgement. The toys in our local MIU are awful, visibility dirty and sticky and don't look like they've seen a wipe in years, and is most cases broken to some degree, so I didn't let my 1 year old play with them, much to his displeasure. Our local children's A&E and children's ward is completely different, loads of toys and you see the play workers regularly cleaning them, so I have no issue there, even if a few other kids have had a play before us it's just the same as kids sharing toys at nursery or baby groups. Germs don't worry me particularly but visibility dirty and sticky toys which look like they are ready for a deep steam clean or the bin even, should be removed.

Do people seriously worry about this stuff? Am obviously a neglectful parent. Whose children are never ill.

Lots of people generating phobias in their children. Great.

Oh, and parents who are germphobes and emetophobes should get treated. You are passing your own neuroses onto your children. Not allowing your own children to play because of your own phobias is -- well, not good.

Are you serious OP? That's what they're there for. To be played with. I'm not neurotic and prefer them to be occupied rather than running around like demons, getting on everyone else's tits.