Ugh! My three-year-old needed the toilet when I collected her from nursery recently. It was smelly, there was a soiled potty on the floor and no toilet paper. I was appalled. I’ve often heard it said that you can judge a restaurant by its toilets – if the loos are clean then the more likely they are to also run a clean kitchen. Call me naïve, but I’d never thought to check out the toilet facilities in my child’s nursery.
Of course, I alerted the staff to the fact that they’d run out of loo roll – that’s something that’s easily addressed without offence. But I didn’t know how to say that I thought the toilets were generally unclean. So I was a typical Brit, squirmed but said nothing. I reassured myself by the fact that my daughter is very rarely ill so the nursery’s hygiene levels must be decent.
I was reminded of the incident when a friend commented that she’d gone in to find that there was no soap. It calls to question how often the staff check the facilities. On both occasions it was at the end of the nursery day, but surely staff should routinely make sure it’s adequate?
A FINE LINE
My daughter made the toilet training transition relatively easily and is very independent at going to the toilet by herself, something I’m pleased that the practitioners at her nursery encourage. She is also very drawn to water and has returned home on a couple of occasions in her spare clothes, not because she’s had an accident but because she’s soaked herself while playing in the toilet wash basins.
I’m surprised that staff aren’t monitoring what the children do in there more closely. The main door to the loos is always open so they can see in when passing, but how often do they actually venture into the cubicles? I accept that it’s tricky – there is a fine line between allowing children freedom and privacy and policing them.
My friend was concerned after her daughter came home with slightly soiled underwear on consecutive days. She was capable of using the toilet independently but wasn’t wiping herself properly and was beginning to get sore. My friend told me that she’d prefer the practitioners to check that her child was clean, rather than sending her home dirty, but she was concerned that it was a safeguarding issue – that staff had a policy of not accompanying older children to the toilet.
We have both heard stories of parents saying that pre-school staff refuse to help children go to the toilet to avoid putting themselves at risk of being accused of abuse. Thankfully she discussed it with her daughter’s key person and this was not the case. They were happy to help and even bought moist toilet tissue to help combat the problem.
MALLEABLE MATERIALS
If ever there’s been a case for practitioners keeping a closer eye on what’s going on in the toilets, it must go to another friend. She sheepishly recounted collecting her son from nursery only to be told that he and his friend had been found playing in the toilets. They’d smeared poo all over the cubicles. It was in their hair and under their fingernails.
It seems that toilet areas aren’t just a magnet for those children who indulge in water play but also those who love investigating malleable materials. As if some consolation to my friend, her son gladly reassured her that it wasn’t his own poo…
A WORD OF ADVICE
By Jo Baranek, lead early years adviser, NDNA
Health and safety procedures in nursery toilets should be strict and followed rigorously. Here are some suggestions about how to maintain the highest standards:
BEST PRACTICE
Check your nursery toilets every hour, cleaning up where necessary.
Colour-code mops, buckets and cloths to ensure bathroom supplies are never used elsewhere.
Managers should hold daily spot checks and brief new staff properly on what to look for, and action to take, during inspections.
Most nurseries have bathrooms deep-cleaned at the end of every day, with practitioners keeping them clean and properly stocked in the meantime. As well as soap and toilet roll, most nurseries provide paper towels for children and disposable gloves, aprons and hand sanitiser for staff.
Ensure all children, including babies, have privacy, and are safe, at toilet times. Standard safeguarding advice is that a staff member should never be behind a closed door with a child.
Keep potties in bathrooms and sanitise them after each use. Staff should wear aprons and gloves to empty them.
BY THEMSELVES
Pre-schoolers need to be able to go to the toilet independently by the time they start school and they can only learn this by doing it themselves.
They need a cubicle door they can shut as well as an attentive practitioner in the vicinity, asking: ‘Did you wipe yourself all right? Do you need some help? Did you flush the toilet? Have you washed your hands?’ The practitioner should also notice habits that could indicate a problem, such as a urinary infection or diarrhoea.
A child needs to know they can call for help when they need to. And, finally, practitioners need an open and ongoing dialogue with parents about toileting so everyone understands needs and procedures.
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