Background: I run a M&M free play program for a local rec council. We meet once week in the gym. The gym is used for lots of other programs and they clean the floor twice a week but its still dirty/dusty. The toys/mats get dirty from the kids climbing/playing and tracking dirt/dust from the floor. Everyone seems to understand and I haven't gotten any complaints, informal or formal.
Today I ran into a mom from the fall 2007 program (she didn't come back in the spring). She commented on how the program needs to clean the toys and mats. I explained that we do the best we can considering the situation with lots of programs using the same gym and the same mats. She goes on to tell me the reason she didn't come back in the spring was because her children picked up a nasty virus that gave them terrible ear infections that took rounds and rounds of abx to clear. She is certain they picked up the virus at the M&M program because we don't clean the toys or mats.
We go on to talk about how to better keep the toys/mats clean with no real solution. Short of cleaning each toy and mat every Friday morning there is no other solution, even the weekly cleaning wouldn't be possible with the little help I get from the other moms. Like I said before, we do the best we can.
At the end of the conversation she says
'I guess washing their hands after M&M free play would be a good idea'.
WHAT?!? Isn't that a given? Playing with toys that other kids have touched is an instant trip to the bathroom for hand washing on the way to the car.
Come on, woman! Don't blame my dusty/dirty toys and mats for your kids' illness if you don't wash their hands.
Grrrr. (long) 
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