Post by willywonka666 on Feb 7, 2013 7:51:25 GMT -5
...for fear of germs
Celebrating birthdays at school just got a little less fun for kids in Australia. New guidelines issued Tuesday by the country's National Health and Medical Research Council say that children can no longer blow out the candles on cakes at school because doing so spreads too many germs.
"We introduced new national standards to lift the quality of child care across Australia because we believe parents deserve peace of mind when they drop their child off they are receiving quality care to a high standard," Australia's Minister for Early Childhood and Child Care, Kate Elliss, explained in a statement. "All services across the country will be assessed and rated against new National Quality Standard which will ensure that services are meeting basic requirements including children's health, safety and wellbeing."
Australian medical professionals agree that the new guidelines go a bit too far.
"If somebody sneezes on a cake, I probably don't want to eat it either," Australian Medical Association President Steve Hambleton told the Telegraph. "But if you're blowing out candles, how many organisms are transferred to a communal cake, for goodness sake?"
The guide, called "Staying Healthy: Preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services," does offer a solution. "To prevent the spread of germs when the child blows out the candles, parents should either: provide a separate cupcake (with a candle if they wish) for the birthday child and enough cupcakes for all the other children [or] provide a separate cupcake (with a candle if they wish) for the birthday child and a large cake that can be cut and shared."
"Just wash your hands before you eat," Hambleton said. "If you live in a plastic bubble, you're going to get infections that you can't handle."
shine.yahoo.com/parenting/australian-kids-banned-birthday-tradition-school-181900033.html#!tNSZ
Celebrating birthdays at school just got a little less fun for kids in Australia. New guidelines issued Tuesday by the country's National Health and Medical Research Council say that children can no longer blow out the candles on cakes at school because doing so spreads too many germs.
"We introduced new national standards to lift the quality of child care across Australia because we believe parents deserve peace of mind when they drop their child off they are receiving quality care to a high standard," Australia's Minister for Early Childhood and Child Care, Kate Elliss, explained in a statement. "All services across the country will be assessed and rated against new National Quality Standard which will ensure that services are meeting basic requirements including children's health, safety and wellbeing."
Australian medical professionals agree that the new guidelines go a bit too far.
"If somebody sneezes on a cake, I probably don't want to eat it either," Australian Medical Association President Steve Hambleton told the Telegraph. "But if you're blowing out candles, how many organisms are transferred to a communal cake, for goodness sake?"
The guide, called "Staying Healthy: Preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services," does offer a solution. "To prevent the spread of germs when the child blows out the candles, parents should either: provide a separate cupcake (with a candle if they wish) for the birthday child and enough cupcakes for all the other children [or] provide a separate cupcake (with a candle if they wish) for the birthday child and a large cake that can be cut and shared."
"Just wash your hands before you eat," Hambleton said. "If you live in a plastic bubble, you're going to get infections that you can't handle."
shine.yahoo.com/parenting/australian-kids-banned-birthday-tradition-school-181900033.html#!tNSZ
