Tell me, is it me or does anyone else feel the same way or have the same experiences? We do not as a family, ever wear outdoor footwear indoors and mindees understand this too when at an appropriate age.
My perpetual problem is that none of my mindees parents have the courtesy to do the same. It isn't that I am houseproud - that would be difficult as a CM - but that it is my home and often with crawling babies here who usually at the same stage are teething and so hands in the mouth and on the floor leaves them very vulnerable to picking up germs from whatever has been "walked in". It makes sterilising everything a complete waste of time. With every parent twice a day every day, walking their often wet and sometimes muddy outdoor footwear onto my carpets leaves me very upset.
I have tried to keep parents to the hall and have bought an extra doormat to give them plenty of space to get in, often with both parents, numerous bags and car seats too but even that doesn't work. The mindees nearly always take their parent's hand on arrival for hometime bringing them in saying, "Look what I've been doing". To prevent this would look as if I had something to hide which I definitely don't but the whole thing frustrates me as that then delays hometime as well.
You would think that my family's shoes lined up by the front door and me demonstrating the removal of shoes immediately on their arrival would be a clear message. Even my Ofsted Inspector recently came in from the rain in her shoes without even wiping them on the doormat and asked me about my standards of cleanliness!! I felt despair. What are your thoughts?