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View Full Version : Hand towels and drying hands ehat do you do?



Tazmin68
08-05-2013, 03:42 PM
I have just had my yearly review and with the older children I have hand towels which has their names embroidered on and wash then in a Wednesday and weekend. I have been told that I need to provide a fresh towel each time child goes to bathroom. To go down route of paper towels is really a no go my recycling bin overflows as it is plus I have a child who uses way too much toilet paper and has nearly flooded bathroom once and don't want to give him a chance with paper towels. I am thinking of buying lots of flannels and asking children to use one once and put it in washing bin afterwards.

Becci26
08-05-2013, 03:48 PM
I use flannels, folded in a basket and the children put them in the bin once they have dried their hands, I then wash them daily/ every other day depending on quantity.

I picked mine up in primark very cheap and they have washed well :)

zippy
08-05-2013, 04:31 PM
I use kitchen towel

AliceK
08-05-2013, 04:37 PM
I put out 1 clean towel every day and all the children use it for that day. I was told by EH that this was fine and when Mrs O questioned it I told her the same thing. She was fine with it.

xxx

sarah707
08-05-2013, 04:52 PM
I have a stack of face cloths and the children put them in a basket with a laminated 'put towels here' label on it for hot washing every day :D

munch149
08-05-2013, 04:54 PM
I use individual flannels but only wash them every couple of days. I had one towel for all originally but this was recommended by childminding network worker

jackie 7
08-05-2013, 04:59 PM
I put out a clean towel every day. Sometimes change it during the day.

jackie 7
08-05-2013, 05:01 PM
Forgot to say I put out kitchen roll for e h Might use face towel but will need another trip to ikea.

Petshrinklj
08-05-2013, 05:03 PM
Blooming heck that sounds like a lot of washing. Separate towels wouldn't have occurred to me. I'm learning a lot on this forum. :)

Daftbat
08-05-2013, 05:32 PM
I picked up a load of white face cloths from Wilkos on line. They worked out at 30p each so I bought 30 so that I only need to wash them every other day unless its the holidays. I did a test run with kitchen roll but found that it was very expensive even though I only have economy brand.

bunyip
08-05-2013, 05:39 PM
I have just had my yearly review and with the older children I have hand towels which has their names embroidered on and wash then in a Wednesday and weekend. I have been told that I need to provide a fresh towel each time child goes to bathroom. To go down route of paper towels is really a no go my recycling bin overflows as it is plus I have a child who uses way too much toilet paper and has nearly flooded bathroom once and don't want to give him a chance with paper towels. I am thinking of buying lots of flannels and asking children to use one once and put it in washing bin afterwards.

Whenever I see the phrase, "I have been told....." a little part of my (admittedly small) brain asks, "told - by whom?" :huh:

merry
08-05-2013, 05:43 PM
Who is this yearly review with and why do you have to do what they say? Some of my mindees can go to the toilet 6 times a day, I'm not doing that much washing. I did the individual flannels for single use for a while but with after toilet/before baking/after baking/after playing outside/messy play/before eating/after eating it got ridiculous how many I was using and having to do a washload every day just for flannels. Each child had their own towel and they get washed at least weekly, or more if needed, Ofsted inspector was happy with that.

:)

Samcat
08-05-2013, 05:56 PM
I use the Haren flannels and hand towels from Ikea. The flannels are 4 for £1 and the hand towels £2 each. I bought 4 different colours. I put a towel out in the bathroom for each child to use during the week and have a small basket of flannels in the kitchen. The flannels get changed daily, or sooner if needed. The towels seem to last for the time the children are here in the week. I did find that the blue towels and flannels ran the first time I washed them though and turned the yellow ones a bit of a murky colour, so I've been more careful in washing them first time since.

Chimps Childminding
08-05-2013, 06:42 PM
I have just had my yearly review and with the older children I have hand towels which has their names embroidered on and wash then in a Wednesday and weekend. I have been told that I need to provide a fresh towel each time child goes to bathroom. To go down route of paper towels is really a no go my recycling bin overflows as it is plus I have a child who uses way too much toilet paper and has nearly flooded bathroom once and don't want to give him a chance with paper towels. I am thinking of buying lots of flannels and asking children to use one once and put it in washing bin afterwards.

That's what I do!! Lots of white flannels bought in a pack from Ikea! Children dry hands then pop in bin for washing. Put on hot wash once or twice a week depending on what I am working and how many children I have!!

nikki thomson
08-05-2013, 07:02 PM
Paper towels every time. X

vals
08-05-2013, 07:27 PM
I have a towel for each child that gets washed 'regularly'. I will happily tell Mrs O why that is more than sufficient if asked. Remember, this is to dry clean hands with. no reason at all to use a different one each time.

Daisy1956
08-05-2013, 07:48 PM
I use face-cloths bought quite cheaply, used once then put in the basket for washing, no confusion with different children attending different days having different colours. I find it much easier and hot wash every day or so depending on how many used. I would need a super sized bin for paper re-cycing if I used paper towels, mine is full every two weeks as it is.

Rubybubbles
08-05-2013, 08:10 PM
Paper towel here, then I pop them into recycling at end of day x

The Juggler
08-05-2013, 09:43 PM
i have a handtowel in bathroom that everyone uses. It''s changed daily unless really wet/dirty then changed mid way through day.

For after meals, flanels are used once only then washed. Fresh ones for each meal.

chriss
09-05-2013, 01:11 AM
Confused :panic: Is there a right and wrong ?? Using a towel/face cloth once to dry hands and put in the wash seems a tad excessive, after all their hands are clean.

Surely a clean one every couple days, for each child, depending how much it is used is ok ?

Why aren't things simple :eek::p

Daisy De
09-05-2013, 06:30 AM
Mine have their own individual face cloth for hands, everyone has a different colour they seem to like that and don't use each others. I don't wash them everyday though. I thought we were trying not to be nurseries would you have a new hand towel or paper towels everyday for your own children?

Chimps Childminding
09-05-2013, 06:35 AM
Confused :panic: Is there a right and wrong ?? Using a towel/face cloth once to dry hands and put in the wash seems a tad excessive, after all their hands are clean.

Surely a clean one every couple days, for each child, depending how much it is used is ok ?

Why aren't things simple :eek::p

Because Ofsted don't like to make things simple for us :rolleyes:

Tazmin68
09-05-2013, 06:43 AM
I was advised that using individual hand towels and washing them midweek as well as end off week would be frowned upon by ofsted so I have now ordered lots of flannels and will ask mindees to put them in washing bin and then I can sort out for a hot wash. I was told cross infection from first hand dry o second even if towel is individual. This was a recommendation from CCF coordinator.

mazza58
09-05-2013, 06:59 AM
I only have paper towels in the bathroom now, even when not childminding just think it is more hygenic to use than everyone drying their hands on a hand towel.

MiniKins
09-05-2013, 09:40 AM
What's most important is that hands are washed correctly and completely dry after ~ so long as your method of drying minimises the risk of cross-contamination I can't see any problem using whatever method you prefer.

We actually use disposable paper towels here, but that's just our preference.

By the way, here's a link to some downloads from the 'Wash your hands' campaign with really good posters, activities, stickers and other stuff:

Hand Washing for Kids - A Childs Guide to Hand Hygiene - Give soap a chance (http://www.wash-hands.com/the_campaign/sammy_soap_the_clean_team_education_pack)

loocyloo
09-05-2013, 10:24 AM
after a previous debate on the fourm about this i emailed my ( usually sensible ) environmental health officer ...

i was using a clean hand towel each day - we all used the same one. ... no way could i do that - unless i changed it at least twice!

however, he suggested each child having their own hand towel, that they and only they use each week!

i have ikea flannels, on a shower curtain ring, along with a laminated name tag, and these clip onto my towel rail! i change/wash them each week, or daily if looking grubby! ( generally depends on the child and hand washing ability!!! ) plus, some of my children only come for one day, or just a couple of hours after school.

i did use to use paper towels, but i got fed up of having huge boxes of towels to store and not much storage space!

TNT
09-05-2013, 01:11 PM
I have seperate hand towels for each mindee, they use their own towel only and I wash them twice a week, depending on how often they come. Ofsted were fine with this last time I was inspected, environmental health were also fine with this.
Iam not going to change this in the near future, especially if it means more washing as I have 3 of my own children which creates enough washing already!

gingerjames1
09-05-2013, 01:25 PM
We use a serviette dispenser brought from makro like you get in a restaurant, after a couple of weeks of re visiting the issue and telling the children we only use two at a time, they are all really good at counting their two sheets and even correct each other when needed and the just go into normal waste as cannot be recycled as have been used. It all depends what suits you and the needs of your children you care for.

Sent from my iPhone using Childminding Forum

hectors house
09-05-2013, 03:49 PM
Each of my 7 mindees has their own towel (each a different colour with a picture on), none of the children come more than 3 days a week - I wash the towels weekly - but if the Environmental health officer or Ofsted want to hear me say that I wash them daily - then I'm sure I can be "trained" to say that I do, but I will continue to wash them weekly or sooner if they are grubby. Only 3 out of my 7 are toilet trained thus washing hands after using toilet, the others only wash hands before meals, after playing in garden and taking part in messy craft. :panic: