Deep Reflection

After following her toddler into a fast food playground and discovering how filthy it was, mom and developmental psychologist  Erin Carr-Jordan set out on a mission to research the cleanliness of children's playplaces in restaurants. The results haven't been resassuring: unsettling amounts of broken equipment, food, hair, and garbage could be found in most playlands.

Carr-Jordan hasn't just been videotaping the conditions, though: she's been taking bacteria swabs at each of the 50+ locations she has visited. She then sends the swabs to a lab for analysis. Staph is among the other dangerous bacteria to have turned up.

What's more, according to Joan Rose of Michigan State's Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment, "Kids often are exposed more (they put their hands in the mouth more often) and are also more vulnerable to more severe illness." And unlike outdoor playgrounds -- which keep bacteria in check through sunlight, extreme temperatures, rain and fresh air -- the warm, moist, food-rich environments of indoor playlands encourage bacteria growth.

Currently, there are no laws on the books requiring restaraunt's playlands to meet any level of cleanliness; policy falls to the company level. Unfortunately, most of the major chains either don't have playland cleaning protocols or refuse to share them. Several have inadequate cleaning practices. Through her research, though, Carr-Jordan hopes to add some transparency.

Meanwhile, parents should be on the lookout if they let their children enter playlands.

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-dirty-playlands-20110712,0,3...