Playground Hygiene Issues

I am probably not the person to ask, I didn't even raise an eyebrow when they sampled the pea gravel.

I see it as germs are everywhere, get over it. I have really healthy kids too. :)

I never think about hygiene at the park. We just went, played, shared, cried, wiped noses, rode bikes, kicked the ball, and left. Never even did hand sanitiser. My kids have been sick, but ALL kids get sick. I never attributed it to the playground.
L.

We aren't big worriers about germs in this house. At the playground, I check to make sure there isn't cat poop in the sand box and give little worry to the rest. When we are loaded up in the car, we sanitize hands before we leave.

I never worried about it, we brought sand and riding toys to share and most of the other kids did too.
Honestly, I hardly ever washed any of their toys, lol! And they have always been very healthy :)

I don't really think about it too much. I'm just glad that my DD is in a natural setting, outdoors playing and learning about sharing and the importance of staying active.

That said, we sure do wash our hands after but we never restrict ourselves from exploring---within reason.

I personally think office hygiene is worse!

I really don't have any concerns there and never have. If a kids is OBVIOUSLY sick (boogers everywhere, coughing, sneezing) then I'll steer my kids away. But as for toys...let them play.

My mom disinfected nothing. She kept a clean house, but not ridiculously so. I got sick only occasionally, and now as an adult I hardly ever get sick.

My boys today are hardly ever sick either. We wash our hands before meals and after toileting...and if we're sick, I have them wash their hands more often. But that's about it.

I've had one cold in the last year. My boys haven't been sick at all.

ETA: I advise every mama to watch the documentary "Babies." When you see how far behind Western babies are developmentally due to all the coddling and sheilding we do...it's really an eye-opener.

I have to admit that I never thought about hygiene concerns with regards to toys or equipment at a playground. We've taken our kids to plenty of parks, and they've gotten sick very rarely. Once in a while they have colds, but that's it. Now, my bunch may have exceptionally strong immune systems since we've taken them for two-month stays in an African country five times by now and they didn't get sick much there either, so they might not be a good comparison. Parks are great places for getting out energy, seeing some variety in their day, and spending time with other kids. Enjoy!

I keep wipes and hand sanitizer in our bag. Before DD eats or after we leave the playground, I wipe her hands - more for the dirt she probably drew in than the germs. Otherwise I don't think much about it.

I have lived in a large city too but we usually never take our children to the park with toys. If we felt it necessary to bring a toy we made certain it was something big like a football, soccer ball or basketball. For a 16 month old swinging on the swings or something like that is good for the park really at that young their is very little really fun things for him to do without extreme supervision. I think the youngest I took the kids to the park and I had six kids at one time was perhaps 18 months and I did everthing with them like climbing up the jungle gym, sliding down the slide, etc.

Dang I miss the park. I wish I could go to one soon and make some memories.

i try very hard not to get my kids sick. small daycares, playgrounds that get a lot of sun. avoiding them durring the flu season. my kids are 2 and 4 and were just now allowing them to frequent the public playgrounds. some sickys are really bad for itty bitty ones. thats just my take on it. once they are older they are stronger to fight the big bugs. like school age.

i am no germophobe by any means (and as i responded to the other playground question, i don't see the need to take toys to a playground) but i do sanitize his hands after playing on group equipment like that (at least i try to). i think once in awhile it's justified, but i don't sanitize him constantly by any means. and my son plays outside in our yard and out at my mom's in the country all the time. it's not those kinds of "germs" i worry about. but like you're saying, if you're watching some kid with a runny nose sneezing then playing on the swings...EW. just makes me feel better. my son hasn't been sick all winter other than the sniffles a couple times. although he did break his arm last fall jumping from a play set so.....lol. what are you going to do.

Never thought much of it. I take my kids everywhere including a MDO program where I work a few hours a week from the time they were little bitty. I don't like for them to put their hands in their mouth and I just keep wet wipes with me and clean their hands when we're done playing. We were just at the mall play area today, my baby was crawling around in there too. I cleaned their hands when we were done. My kids have never been sick aside from a little cold here and there. If you want to keep him healthy just wash his hands throughout the day and make sure he has a healthy balanced diet.

I just read an article about this in an old issue of Parents magazine! The article covered different "dirty" places that kids frequent and how to deal with it. For the playground, it recommended that you let your kid play as usual, and then when done, immediately use a wipe to clean the hands. If the wipe is an antibacterial one, then you are done, but if it is a regular one, you will want to use a hand sanitizer. I think the best way is to use an antibacterial wipe, that way you are getting all of the dirt and sweat off of him, and sanitizing at the same time. And the article warned about the germs in the sand (giant litter box), so keep the sand out of his mouth!