Bare feet in the indoor playground???
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We have an *awesome* rec center nearby where there is a huge indoor playground. Occasionally, there are some kids who take off their socks. Most of them are trying to climb up the slide, rather than letting others come down. (Which is another pet peeve of mine since it "hogs" the slide and is dangerous.)
Anyway, the parents let their kids go on their without their socks and I just don't get it.
In addition, there are some parents who bring their sick coughing kids in and they cough into their hands and then climb. Ugh.
Am I just a germaphobe? I try not to be, but bare feet where hands can touch...yuck. The play area is designed so you don't need to take your socks off, so I don't understand why the parents don't just make their kids wear socks. They are typically older kids too, where you can reason with them, ie "if you take off your socks, we're going home"...etc.
That was always a pet peeve of mine when my kids were little too. There really isn't much you can do about it other than making sure he washes up well when you get home.
I'm surprised the establishment doesn't have a "no bare feet" rule, and if it does, they obviously don't enforce it. Our McDonald's has a playscape, and they're pretty good about requiring socks. So is the gymnastics place.
I have taught my kids to cough into their shoulder or elbow. This is supposed to help lessen the spread of germs. That said, not all coughs are from being sick. When my kids have asthma flares they tend to cough. I'm not going to keep them home every time this happens. I also don't worry too much about them being exposed to normal colds and illnesses. They can't live in a bubble. 
I am a bit surprised they don't require socks also. The coughing thing... that never really bothered me. Kids can have coughs long after a cold goes away or as Trina mentioned for a variety of reasons. Now a green snotty nose would bug me. LOL
When my kids were little, we went to open workouts in the gymnastics center at the YMCA and they preferred kids in barefeet, because they didn't want kids to fall, while they were using the equipment, or running on the tumbling track. So, they were barefoot, there.
Picture of barefooted gymnast
I never worried about germs, at all, and my kids were 3 and 1, when we moved to Sheboygan. No one ever got any weird diseases, other than colds they would have caught anyway. It was just a nice place to go for an hour or hour-and-a-half, where our kids could run off some steam, when it was too cold for young kids to play outside. I loved it!
McDonald's, on the other hand, as others have stated, always requires socks and my children always wore their socks, and so did everyone else.
I've never cared about them having socks on since we live in FL and most of the time they arrive wearing sandals. Little kids do not have althete's foot, so who cares.
We actually stopped and went bowling last weekend, spur of the minute, my kids needed a break and we wore bowling shoes...without socks!
 We all survived!
It doesn't really bother me. I just used to make my dks wash their hands really well when they were done playing.
My dks both have asthma, and get a nasty cough when they have flare ups, so I don't worry too much about a coughing child.
Now we did go to McDonlds once with a playgroup. My youngest was about 2. He got a rotovirus, along with 1/2 the other kids. So, we were pretty sure it came from the play area there. All I can say is, YUCK!
Doesn't really bother me either.
The coaches at our gym actually require the kids to take off their socks for traction. But play areas and McD's are a different story.
ditto annie, in tx mostly we don't wear socks.
As for coughing, honestly once they hit school, you just don't stress so much. Kids are just as exposed being in walmart touching the cart.
It used to bother me when mine were little. Then it was summer and kids wear sandals, they aren't allowed to wear shoes on the equipment etc. I guess it's like alot of things I started to relax as they got older but I can see why it might bother some.
I guess I should clarify the coughing...it's like consistently "hacking" up gunk and then they are wiping their nose all over...that's what bugs me.
And, bare feet in bowling shoes??? I don't think I could stomach that. And, why wouldn't kids carry fungus on their feet or viruses???
I know a lot of places that require socks only and I think it's for that reason.
All people can get Athlete's foot, just and FYI. It is not gender or age specific. This fungus eats old skin cells and plenty of them can be found on the feet of everyone, regularly..
We actually carry fungus all over our bodies, no matter how clean we think we are. This fungus is what keeps us healthy, kill off all the fungus and you end up physically sick. You ever seen the hands of someone that washes them too much?? However in the right conditions the fungus multiplies and becomes an irritant. An example would be yeast infection, the right amount of yeast we are all good, the yeast gets unbalanced and you end up with an infection. When we are infected, it can be transfered to other people, just like with any other infection.
People with sweaty or damp feet are at risk. Walking barefoot where others also walk barefoot is one way the infection/fungus can get on your feet in the first place.
That said, I don't care.. In the big game of icky, Athlete's foot is the least of my concerns. I have learned that kids get dirty, they get sick and the more you fight it the sicker the kids tend to turn out in the end. But that is just my experience. Kids are giant germ factories, all kids and fearing them getting sick takes all the fun out of life..
However, Heidi, your concerns are valid. You will either need to get over it or just stop taking him to these type of places. You aren't going to change the people that will drag their snotty/bare foot kids out, and they aren't going to change you. So you will have to make the choice for you, is the slight chance of exposure worth him being socialized or is it better to avoid these places? Keep in mind, kids in school, pick their nose and do not wash their hands after bathroom breaks. These are just facts of life..
Best to just try and teach him good hygiene (which I know you are) and not worry so much about what other people/children are doing. At least that has become my mantra. I can only fix/change me and the way I address situations.
The bare feet thing doesnt bother me. If my kids are at a playplace playing, they always have a bath/shower before bed. So I dont worry about it.
Our health department requires socks be worn in public play places like McDonald's. My DD is on her junior high volleyball team and has come down with her first cold in a very long time because of the way they have to check in and out of the game. They must touch the hands of the person they are swapping positions with. The entire team is sick. You'd think they would stop this practice but all teams must do it.
Okay, I stand corrected on athlete's foot!
Dora, all the kids handle the dirty ball with their hands, they can catch something that way, too.
Dora, they all touch the balls, they all touch the benches, lockers and each other. Germs are also passed by breathing on each other and the front row is in close enough contact with each other during spikes etc. that transfer of germs would happen even if they weren't doing the traditional hand touching. The germs are all over the court during the games/practices with our with out tapping each other out of the games. If the team has it, it is a good possibility the whole school has it, where you touch desks, doors, and breath on each other all day. Tis' the season to be ill...
with "or" without..
Talk to my the health departments in my state regrading the socks. Not my rule, just making a comment. I was just stating a point and I realize they get sick from the balls, etc. Same for the volleyball. Just a comment and trying to make a friendly observation.
I am not sure what their reasoning is but I can tell you that Tinea Infection is spread through contact with the socks not just bare feet. People that have Tinea Infection have an increase in the sweat of their feet, a bodies way of trying to cure the fungus. This sweat absorbs into their socks, their socks are now contaminated with the fungus. Their feet are sweating, which is leaving sweaty fungus infected foot prints all over the mated surface, and every play thing they put their feet on, in these type of play areas. Socks or not you are still at risk of getting it.
Tinea Infection can also be found on the hands (between the fingers), the arm pits, the groin area, and in heavy people (adults and children) it can be found any where their skin over laps (necks, stomachs, arms, knees, etc), it is not only found on the feet. It has two requirements, wet and dark.. It isn't age or gender specific and it doesn't care what race you are... It just wants it wet and dark. OH and pets are carriers of the fungus.. So if your DH happens to rubs his feet on the cat and later you run your hand across its back, well you get my drift I am sure.
The Tinea Infection by the way is a cousin to ring worm. Which can also be carried on pets.
The thing I typically hear the most about this time of year is head lice... But that can't be carried on your pet. They prefer the human hair shaft. But a kid with it can spread it to a room of people with out even knowing they have it.
My point? Crap happens... Live your life and worry about something when the doctor says worry... The only people that have issues with a flare up of a skin infection are people with a compromised immune system.
I just think that hands are washed 4-8 times more than feet, you know? And, kids feet can stink, which means there's more bacteria, etc.
Sounds like a personal preference, but there are lots of other places that don't allow shoes or bare feet for a reason. For me, I guess it's like touching someone's dirty bare feet and rubbing them...yuck.
What about a swimming pool or a water park. Hands and feet are everywhere in a water park! Or with chlorine present, is it different?
LOL Heidi, Heidi. LMAO..
You ought to do some reading up on hand washing, the number of people that actually wash their hands as often and as well as they should. The number of people that actually know how to properly wash their hands will probably put you in shock. I would bet, that the majority of people have cleaner feet then they have clean hands. They sock and shoe their feet.. Their hands touch everything. I heard once that a toilet is cleaner than most peoples hands. Think about it... LOL
You might decide never to leave the house again.. But remember, you are your age, and all the people you know that are older than you are have survived despite the fact that world is nasty.
There are just somethings you have to do your best to address in your own life (I wash my hands, for example) and other things you just have to let go of (I still touch door knobs, which by the way are dirtier then the toilet too).. And worrying about other peoples hygiene habits can't be one of the things I worry about.. I seem to have managed just fine, I am still here.
Yeah, one shouldn't really dwell on how dirty a shopping cart handle is! LOL! Besides, don't we need exposure to germs, so our bodies make the antibodies to fight bacteria?
Yes that would be correct.
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