Washing hands at soft play..

[treetop122]

Trying to work out if I am normal (ish) or OTT…

I have 3 kids, 10,6&3. Normal half term fun this week and we met some family at a soft play.

Now I try to avoid soft plays because of the germs this time of year. When we do go to a softplay, I make my kids wash their hands before they eat, and/ or when we leave. I noticed that others are not bothered and let their kids just eat.

Am I being over the top or do people normally make their kids wash hands before they eat when still in the softplay. I am quite strict on it and try not to let them eat until hands are washed.

i also make my kids take their socks off for clean ones when we get home… got me wondering, am I normal?! 😂

We wash hands and change clothes when we return home !

We also aren’t ill very often so that doesn’t really prove anything. I had a very nasty norovirus some 20 years ago and I don’t want a repeat of that if I can help it so I have been more careful since then. So I’ll always wash myself when I get home if I have used a public toilet and encourage the kids to do the same (they don’t always now they’re older) but you do you ☺️

Antibacterial hand gel lives in my pocket whenever we go to soft play! It goes on at every opportunity and we always wash hands before eating. Indoor enclosed spaces with hundreds of children and snotty, vomiting toddlers...urgh...We don't avoid going though as they are fab. I only don't go right before we're about to go on holiday or something special.

I don't do anything different at soft play and DD has never been ill after going to one 🤷

You are normal, OP. Those soft plays are disgusting. Yes, wash hands, change socks, change clothes, and de-worm your kids (now and then) while you're at it!

Avoid the germ factory at all costs as even when kids puke or snot on everything it’s not cleaned, very few supervise their children hand washing.

Yep sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you'd get ill more from being extra-cautious. Just that it doesn't seem to have negatively impacted us so far, as OP was asking for other perspectives 🙂

It’s good practice and you have done everything you can to prevent a sickness bug or illness that you can. I don’t feed my kids there unless I have too (party’s) and take hand sanitizer for after. If they still get sick you did all possible to prevent it. I’ve been known to shower us all and change into pjs afterwards too. My son did stand in the discarded contents of a toddlers nappy in soft play once though he’s still traumatised by it now!

never thought about the handwashing but then again, im not a germaphobe and never picked up anything from soft play

i dont do anti-bac hand gel either. What a swizz

When my DD was severely immunocompromised for a while, the first thing the consultant said was don't go to soft play! Said it was worse than school. It was my pleasure not to go for a while!

I'm the same as you. And if I could shower them down I would too.

I'm afraid this is not true. These places are a hive of bacteria as they are never thoroughly cleaned. A friend of mine got septicemia from a rope burn rescuing her child from climbing apparatus at a soft play place. She ended up in hospital on a drip for 3 days.

I make sure we antibac in between and when we leave. We don’t really eat at them apart from me getting a coffee but yanbu the places are riddled !!

Urrrgh I’m having flashbacks to yucky germy softplay 🤮
Think of it as building a good immune system !

I do none of these things and have yet to be struck down by a pestilence. Can count on 1 hand the number of times kids have had sickness bugs.

Most of the population have a variety of bodily tools to fight off bacteria or viruses entering the body including a very sophisticated immune system.

I take a milton hand sanitizer spray/ foam, or carex do a pocket size spray sanitizer that you can use on surfaces aswell

bring gel with you

its like Covid never happened how quickly people forget how germs spread.

Am same as you OP. If DC made a fuss I’d at least put some hand sanitiser on them. And yes to the socks change when you get home. I don’t want the soft play dirt on my carpets thanks.

It’s not about catching “germs”. I just prefer to eat with clean hands and prefer my DC to do so as well. Nothing wrong with that at all. Totally normal.

Never did any of this, just did what i assumed was sensible - wash hands after going to the toilet and/or if hands looked mucky. My kid is now 20 and has had 1 course of antibiotics and max 4 trips to the GP since being born.

Overkill on the hygiene front reduces immunity and results in OCD and anxiety ridden kids
Changing socks and showering because you’ve been to indoor play/used public loos is just completely bonkers.

But people get septicemia from all sorts of injuries, it's not necessarily because it was acquired at soft play

Yes, my son loved soft play, as he was an only child we went a lot. I never washed his hands after it or changed clothes, and he never once got ill.

Hang on, so if anyone has used a public toilet when out, anywhere, they have to have a shower as soon as they get home?! What about school and work?