Appropriate sanitization methods begin with proper training for all of the staff in daycare and preschool facilities. This means that sanitization of equipment is not just the job of the custodian, or the cafeteria worker, or even just the teachers and daycare providers. Even office staff who work in daycares or preschools need to practice proper hygiene and keep equipment sanitized. The reason for this can be demonstrated with a simple example. For instance, if a teacher or daycare provider goes into the facility’s office to answer a phone call from a parent, if the telephone has not been sanitized, they could then carry these germs back to the classroom and potentially contaminate the classroom equipment or spread the germ to a child. For this reason, daycares and preschools need to offer regular and up to date instruction in the proper sanitization methods and practices.

Proper sanitization of equipment also requires that daycares and preschools be stocked with the needed supplies. These supplies include, but are not limited to latex gloves (for cleaning and food preparation, as well as for handling sick children), germ-fighting or anti-microbial cleaning solutions which may contain bleach, and hand cleaners like the instant spray sanitizers that are popular. It is also essential to have proper waste receptacles for ordinary trash as well as separate and secured containers for hazardous materials. In a preschool or daycare setting, hazardous materials could include bloody tissues from a child’s nose bleed, or even cleaned up vomit from a child who might have the stomach flu.

Of course, these are situations that demand the use of latex gloves, and there are even proper techniques for taking off these gloves to prevent contamination. Keeping preschool and daycare equipment sanitized means that all washable surfaces need to be cleaned on a regular basis (minimally on a weekly basis) with a germ-fighting or anti-microbial cleaner. Often this is the duty of teaching staff at preschools and daycares, since janitors take care of the bigger cleaning jobs. Teachers need to clean each item that children come in contact with, from desk tops to individual stacking blocks and dolls.

Teachers and daycare staff need to be given the time to perform these extra duties, as well as the cleaning supplies and the proper instruction in how to perform the sanitization. This sanitization of supplies needs to be conducted when children are not present, due to the use of chemicals, thus there needs to be a time set aside for cleaning equipment after all children have left the premises. It may even be necessary at times for staff to come in on the weekend to do a big cleaning of all equipment.

The significance of cleaning and sanitizing equipment in daycare and preschool settings should be the concern of parents, staff and anyone who cares about the well-being of the children in these environments. While cleaning is not by any means the preferred way for any of us to spend our time, in these settings it is nonetheless absolutely crucial, and it is the responsibility of everyone involved at every level in a preschool or daycare facility.