How dirty are your daycare kiddos at the end of each day?

[Wonderwiper]

That's me exactly momof4. Kids get dirty. I don't have time to change 5 kids every time they get a grass stain on them. I assumed anyone would realize I don't send kids home looking like they have been mud wrestling. Visible skin is clean and clothes are dry.

[torontokids]

My kids get dirty and I love it! We are outside all day and go through a couple of outfits each. Sometimes a parent has made a comment about laundry or something but they understand that their kid is having fun and I could keep them very clean if they watched TV all day.

I tell my parents at the interview that they will be dirty when they come to pick them up. I wash their hands/faces before lunch/naps but as soon as they wake up we are outside again. I won't take the sprinkler out in the afternoon so they aren't soaking wet at pick up but the parents are welcome to bring their child inside and change them which some do.

[monkeymama]

It is in my contract not to send clothes and items that are not play clothes. I play outside every day! I make that clear from the beginning. Of course, no one is going home with wet mud in their hair but they are kids being kids, exploring and having tons of fun! Ive never had a parent complain, most just comment they look like they had a fun day

[Lou]

They're not filthy...but there's sure to be dirty knees and a paint stain or two! We finish our day by having snack (followed by a hands and face wash, and as the kids are sitting at the table I re-ponytail the girls), then we walk to the bus stop to pick up the older girls then head straight into the back yard. The state that they get themselves into while in the back yard for that last 1/2-1 hr is the state they get picked up as! My own son attends preschool 2x/week and when he comes home filthy (and I mean FILTHY, they, too finish their day outside) it makes me smile and think "must have been a fun day!". If we had somewhere to go directly after pick up, it would be stupid of me to not bring a change of clothes and a hair brush. These babies are going to daycare not a museum!

[sunnydays]

I don't clean them up before home time. We are often outside and if they get really mucky I will wipe their hands (I keep wipes outside with us) and of course I will change if they poop, but it does happen sometimes that I don't notice that they ahve just pooped and parent notices when picking them up...so I have the diapers and wipes and parents usually change on the grass. Clothing gets dirty...I don't change it unless it is muddy or wet or the child has had a diaper leak. I have never had anyone complain. My son came home from JK yesterday covered from head to toe in dust and dirt and with filthy clothing...I just laughed because I knew he had had a fun day Teachers will not be cleaning kids or changing them...parents should get used to this. If they are going somewhere after they can have spare clothes and wipes in the car if need be.

[Harmoni]

We take our afternoon snack outside and spend the remainder of the day out in the backyard! They go home filthy!! That's how I prefer it, no extra grass, sand, pebbles in my house! haha The parents and I agree on "dirty kids=healthy happy kids!"

[Artsand crafts]

Kids usually go home with stained pants (mainly the knees) from playing outside or a little stain from craft material in their shirts. No parent has complained. Families know that outdoor time and exercise is a big part here. Body parts are cleaned before going home. Clothes are changed unless it is wet or heavily soiled. If they get dirt under the nails they should be clipped at home properly. If kids were doing nothing, playing only indoors or watching tv they would not get dirty at all during the day.

[mom-in-alberta]

I laugh, because I literally JUST talked to all my parents about this. The main idea was "It's SUMMER. We will be outside. We will probably get dirty, sometimes even wet. It means we had fun!"
They may have dirty clothes, despite my best intentions with bibs, etc. They will probably have dirty socks, because I do not allow shoes on the trampoline. But they will (almost always) have a clean/fresh diaper, they will not have food ALL OVER their face, and I bring a pack of Costco wipes outside to handle any serious ickies.

[Lighthouse1]

I do tend to TRY and send kids home as clean as possible. Just as a service to the parents, they get to spend so few awake hours with their children, I don't want them to have to spend that time washing off all the mud and sand etc. So we tend to do ALL our messy play in the morning. Then in the afternoon, my kids know to stay away from the water table and muddy areas if we go outside. When it's raining we don't go out at all in the afternoon, only in the morning. Having said that, sometimes my kids DO go home sandy, or wet or dirty, and so far I have been blessed enough to have parents who say "that's fine, they're kids!" no complainers yet... my friend who owns a daycare nearby has a parent who complains daily about how messy her children are at pick up and refuses to hug them until they are clean. It's awful! I think it sends a message to the children that getting messy is bad, and that creates issues right? So that would be another reason I let them get messy early in the day and try to keep them "cleaner" in the afternoon for pick up, then I can control the message that it's great to get messy and dirty and no big deal. At the end of the day, I don't tell them not to get messy, I just "close" certain toys or areas because we've already used them.... Does that make sense? Anyways, good luck! Its really 6 of one and half a dozen of the other I think. If your DCK are happy, then that's all that matters!!!

[madmom]

If they don't go home dirty then they didn't have a good day