CM Club: Washing for the mindees

[KatyMac]

OFSTED have questioned that I wash the mindees hand towels (individual ones) each week

Apparently they should be changed daily - I wash my own towels about weekly and thought that was normal.

Each child has their own coloured hand towels which they use after hand washes & they go in the wash each week, replaced by a clean one. They also get washed if they get grubby in between.

Is this wrong?

Staff leaving
Children cutting their hours
Nursery playing up
DH health very 'visible'

Lots going on bth

I slept over 12 hrs last night

Hope you feel better for your sleep Katy!

I put 2 little baskets in the bathroom - one of fleece wipes off Ebay to be used for wiping faces and one of 20p flannels off Tesco to be used as one-use handtowels.

i do understand the principle of personal use towels and cross contamination etc BuT i think a single use towel is excessive and wastefull - i don't mean to be rude ayla this is just my opinion - the kids i mind and kids in general are all over each other like a rash and i don't wash the toys between each childs usage so surely they'll be cross contaminated anyway?

vintage violet

i couldnt agree more

i bet the children wipe their hands all over the sofa etc and that is not washed on a daily or even weekly or monthly basis

I use kitchen roll, OFsted very happy with that at my Inspection

Don't think you're being rude at all you're quite right. Children are in close proximity for most of the day and snot/saliva ends up on toys & furniture and toys are in mouths all the time. Which is why things spread so quickly at childminders and nurseries.

Its impossible to 100% remove all risk of contamination and I don't think we should - children need to build up an immunity.

But I work with lots of different parents and I have to respect ALL their viewpoints. What one parent is happy with another will not be. Same goes for Ofsted inspectors.

When it comes to providing a healthy environment I feel its my duty to do what I can to minimise the risk. And when I say risk its not just the risk to other mindees, but to other visitors and my family and me as well.

In my family we don't use each other's towels, so I wouldn't expect mindees to share either. Particularly as one school child has just been diagnosed with Impetigo - sharing towels would have been an excellent way to give it to all the rest of us.

Oh this is just another case of Ofsted finding any little thing they can pick you up on, its a world gone mad! It seems to me that the job of an Ofsted inspector is to find something wrong with everybody, no matter how minute. The enjoyment and fulfilment is going right out of our job.

What we'll all end up doing is what is realistic day to day, using our common sense. Then behaving in an Ofsted approved way when we're inspected.

I'm going to send OFSTED our water bill! How many times do we have to tell them we are NOT nurseries and do not have the room in our bathrooms that nurseries have in their washrooms?

I always tell the older boys to wash hands after using loo, coming in from garden etc and I supervise 3 yr old with washing his hands after every loo visit.

I am not starting washing loads of towels everyday and I've not room to put separate pegs up either, besides my hubby flatly refuses to put pegs up, (saying its his house not a bl**dy nursery) so what chance have I got on OFSTED visit?

Our role as cms is to nurture mindees as Maureenmlove said, I bet you are glad you are out of cminding!