Washing hands a "Condition of Entry"

[Netix]

At DS' kinder, you are only allowed in if you wash your hands. With soap. And every parent *must* come inside in order to sign the in/out book. I understand this is to (help) prevent anything in the kinder being "contaminated" with something nut-based, but is this a normal practice now? This is the first time I have come across this. Amd it's a little frustraing, because I carry Mack in, and have to wash my hands under a tap that is child height, whilst still holding him. And if I bring my own pen to sign tje book and don't touch ANYTHING, would i still need to wash my hands? I mean, DS' lunchbox touches all the other lunch boxes, so that's more likely to have nuts on it, even though I send nut-free.

I understand what is it meant to help prevent, but does it really?

[Cass72]

We had one of those large pump bottles of hand sanitiser next to the sign in book.

The centre had signs up stating that the childcare workers (not visitors) must wash their hand on arrival and before leaving.

I thought the handwashing thing was a more germy thing and nothing to do with nuts.

Personally, I prefer to use the sanitiser unless I can ensure that I can completely dry my hands as you pick up more germs with wet hands. Plus it would be a lot quicker. Too bad if you arrive with a crowd and you all have to wait for sink privileges....

[Phteven]

For real?

It's a kindergarten not a palliative care ward FFS.

[DaintreeDream]

We certainly don't have to, we are also allowed nuts and any other food we care to send for our childrens lunch. Our kinder believes it is in the best interest of a child with allergies to learn at an early age how to live with their allergy as they will have to deal with it for life. I tend to agree. I think that alot of places are going slightly overboard these days.

[Rowellen]

Seems a bit extreme IMO. We certainly don't do it at our kindy.

[Jaycee]

Definitely sounds extreme. Hand sanitizer I could understand but that just sounds too much to me!

[meow]

No way would I use the sanitiser gel- that stuff is bad for your health.

That sounds really, really overboard. Even if it was for germs- it's not like you're in the room spreading your germs around. You're just signing in. Can you jsut ignore it, or do people notice? I would tell them the sink is too low as you're carrying your baby so you're going to bring your own pen to avoid touching theirs.

[wysiwyg]

Our childcare doesn't allow any foods in - but certainly there is no enforcing of washing hands - I think there might be hand sanitiser on the wall somewhere but I haven't seen anyone make sure they are using it. It does sound very extreme if you ask me - and when I was carrying DS in I would have found it impossible without putting him down - and once he has started walking he normally disappears off towards the toys while I am signing in - and I am sure siblings like him would be more of a germy / contamination risk than me.

Surely it doesn't do anyone any favors - outside children are in contact with what has been on others hands all over the place (the hand rail on the way into childcare for example) - touching the button to change lights at the traffic lights etc etc - IMO unless there is a specific medical condition then it is not helpful to be in a too sanitized environment.

[Floweryfields]

For real?

It's a kindergarten not a palliative care ward FFS.

I'd be raising this as an issue tbh and asking for the justification of the policy.

I was at a networking meeting for childcare and we were discussing those who had been through the new assessment process. A centre in my region was marked down because not all families were washing their hands on arrival - we're stuffed as very few of ours do.
There was a very anal director also at the meeting who said she has the hand washing policy in place and they are so strict that one father won't come in the building because of it - he finds it so annoying. She thought it was amusing, I thought it was totally missing the point of why we want to encourage families into our centres - to communicate with them and not alienate them.

The thing we are finding is frustrating with the new framework and assessment process, it does come down to how the assessor feels personally about certain issues and how they interpret the 'rulings' in the framework guide into real life situations. In the old NCAC accreditation process, assessors had a set of guidelines to 'tick and flick' that is no longer the case.

Personal beliefs and values come into the assessment ratings alot now - what I might have a personal dislike for I could easily mark someone down on and that's what centres are finding. Like one in Cairns who were marked as not meeting sustainable practices because they were using airconditioning in a centre in the tropics in the middle of summer.

[Phteven]

My goodness. The nanny state is out of control.

[Floweryfields]

My goodness. The nanny state is out of control.

Yes, I think the main problem is the people who wrote the framework, with the intentions of it being more flexible and people friendly, forgot that they were entrusting the assessing of it to (often not always) power hungry control freaks who have a somewhat different view of how they want to see things in practice.

I could go on for hours about ridiculous rulings during assessment - like the centre where a child dropped and picked up their sandwich (themselves) and started eating it again after it had been on the floor. The carer had her hands full toileting (while still supervising those eating) one child (she was alone with 4 children) and was marked as not meeting the child's health and hygiene needs because she didn't stop them eating the food from the floor. While I can see their point, I can't see how that could be prevented other than changing the legal requirements for numbers of carers in a room of 4 children.

[peanutter]

Not at ours ... on the contrary, I bring in DS2 with me often enough (who I do not wash sanitise upon entry ) who gets passed around while I sign DS2 in or out, greet DS1's little friends, and do whatever else I'm there to do.

[Traveller]

Sanitiser gel is fine for a ward but totally ott for a kinder. Children actually need to be exposed to germs to build up their immunity. Our daycare had gel but it was so you could clean your hands in a hurry if you sneeze. I'd be raising this as an issue tbh and asking for the justification of the policy.