Disinfecting many toys at once

[Inspired by Reggio]

I barely ever disinfect toys unless a child wipes their nose on a stuffy or sneezes directly on something.

This is me as well - I keep a vinegar and water solution on the top off the shelve out of reach with a 'towel' beside it and clean anything that is 'mouthed' in that and toss it to air dry beside and than back into the playroom. I do not use 'chemicals' to clean the house with but rather 'enjo' cleaning clothes, a H2O steam mop and an organic toilet bowl cleaner and good old vinegar and water for glasses and surface cleaning ... occasionally if there is an actual outbreak of something with a client I will use bleach and water to sanitize but only THEN not daily!

I worked in centre care for decades before waking up to realize that being in a home environment was more in-tune with my child-rearing philosophy....when I made the switch I was engrained with the anal disinfecting practices of 'centre care' and washed my mouthed toys daily, all the toys weekly and anything 'fabric' went into the washer and dryer.... it was TIME CONSUMING and than I reflected 'why am I doing this so often?' .... if a centre has 150 children playing in it plus all their parents in and out sure they have way more germs flying around, if each room has 24 kids playing in it sure things might get dirty quicker ... but this is my home with only FIVE children playing in it - surely this is not 'necessary'!

I stopped doing the 'everything gets cleaned weekly' thing - toys get cleaned AS NEEDED ... if they are mouthed or if they are visibly dirty somehow than they get cleaned and put back as they are 'found' ... if something is not being played with often and I want to rotate it out I will clean it THEN before putting it away - but no more of the everything every week.

Compared to my experience in 'centre' care despite my lack of 'anal cleaning' my crew is RARELY sick here and when they do catch something the whole community has it anyway so they likely caught it at the grocery store or church and what not - it rarely goes through the 'whole program' here the one family will get it and maybe one other ... unlike in a centre where despite their anal cleaning if a rotavirus or chicken pox or what not comes through pretty much bet the entire classroom will get it ... have to wonder if it is not because their little immunities are being damaged by the constant exposure to bleach and antibacterial disinfectants in that environment?