XP: How do I bring this up to our daycare?

karelaorange

I love our daycare provider.  They're great with dd.  It's a fairly large center; ~7 kids in the infant room, and more in subsequent rooms, so somewhere around 60 to 70 kids, I'd guess.

One thing I don't love about the place is that it always smells like cleaning products.  I'm glad they keep the place clean, but the smell bothers me for the 5 minutes I'm there a day, it can't be good for DD to be breathing that in all day.  I don't know what they use, but I saw a bottle of some fluorescent pink something.  Definitely not eco-friendly, I'm sure.  I don't know how to propose they use something else.  If it was a small place I woudln't hesitate, but it's a large center.  

The two women that run it are lovely, they know our daughter and love her.  They think it's great that we cloth diaper, and I know that one of them CD's their daughter as well.  So I think they might be open to this possibility if I approach it right.

WendyGR

You could mention that your daughter is sensitive to some chemicals, and ask what they use. Unfortunately, at least in Michigan, they are required to keep bleach on hand everywhere and are supposed to clean with it. Ugh!

karelaorange

WendyGR:

You could mention that your daughter is sensitive to some chemicals, and ask what they use. Unfortunately, at least in Michigan, they are required to keep bleach on hand everywhere and are supposed to clean with it. Ugh!

Oohh!  I like this idea... I actually don't take much issue with bleach.  My greater concern is organic chemicals and solvents.

jolata

I like pp's idea. I saw an article about natural cleaners in the recent parenting magazine (shoot I can't remember which one), if i can find it, you could share it with them.

But not sure they can make changes, though.

I used to work at a daycare and it was company policy to spray everything with Lysol at the end of the day. When I wad pg the smell bothered me so much, made me feel sick, the directors understood and I didn't have to do it myself. But, the rooms were still sprayed, just after I left.  Kids were still putting the toys that were sprayed in their mouth though, ew.

 

ETA: The magazine is the April 2010 issue of Parents, pg 132 - it is about having clean air in the schools and provides this website for approved green cleaning products - greencleaning.ny.gov/products.asp

Joenali

I would imagine that they need to use bleach to clean. I have worked at several preschools and it is mandatory to clean with water and bleach. They will probably have to keep using this policy unless they don't want to be licensed to run a daycare.

barkers4jmm

I have a similar gripe, although it's about bleach.  I pick up DD near center closing time, and they're already spraying a bleach solution with the kids still there. Chlorine vapors are toxic to the lungs and eyes.  I understand that's probably their required rules, but they should wait until the children are gone for the day.  Is oxygen bleach not as disinfecting?

 

karelaorange

barkers4jmm:

I have a similar gripe, although it's about bleach.  I pick up DD near center closing time, and they're already spraying a bleach solution with the kids still there.  Bleach vapors are toxic to the lungs and eyes.  I understand that's probably their required rules, but they should wait until the children are gone for the day. 

 

That's bad, and, I would think, probably against regulations.  That sounds like a mistake on the part of the staff and you should totally bring that up.  They just want to get out of work sooner, but children's safety shouldn't be sacrificed for that.

Diamond_Doll

I taught daycare for a couple of years and we used bleach and water to clean everything. I always assumed that it was because it's cheaper than buying actual cleaning supplies. You may want to just ask the daycare center if there are any rules that say they must use bleach. If not, you could share some other EF cleaning recipes with them. I'm sure they don't want to spend the funds on expensive EF cleaning supplies, but if it is something cheap to make (assuming they aren't required to use bleach), they may be all about it. You may want to research antibacterial essential oils and share that info with them, too.