This whole e-coli farm thing...

[zazen999]

No no, it hasn't - there was the whole debacle regarding the X-Factor and Strictly. I mean imagine it - some people had to make a decision about watching teleprogrammes, and in some cases they were forced - forced I tell you to miss one of teh programmes if they chose the other one to watch!?!!!

Imagine it.

If only they'd have invented a recording device which could be used on the TV........oh! hang on........

[SlugLobber]

Can't add to what has already been said, but suffice to say, the one friend I have who has every antibacterial concoction going is the one whose entire family seems permanently ill.

They announced on the radio this morning that 32 out of 100-and-something samples came back positive for E.coli. My reaction was, 'is that all???' As if you're not going to get bacteria on a farm! Sheesh!

[quark1]

Apparently one set of parents is already preparing legal action against the farm - compensation cash has - I understand - a pretty strong, sickly sweet odour.

I simply can't understand what part of 'Wash your Hands' the supervising adults don't understand - they can't all be foreign speaking people with no English language skills whatsoever.

There is a working farm not far from me towards Shoreham which has open days and tours on the back of a hay transporter. Its a great day out for young and old. But if your kids touch anything from livestock to picking wildflowers, even the bricks and mortar - it is the parents' responsibility to ensure that they wash their hands. If the kids are older enough to understand it must be drummed into them ahead of time. They should also be reminded not to smear dirt down their clothes, wash hands, only to touch dirt on clothes and possibly spread the germ - maybe thats what happened?

On the other hand - I believe we live in a far too antiseptic era where our natural immune systems have been moth-balled and we fall foul of the slightest germ.

(world according to quark!)

[bluemoon]

I think immune systems are not what they used to be, in super hygenic houses with super hygenic nonexposure to germs mean those kids are super sensitive to bugs.

I absolutely and 100% agree. I was once at the beach with a some people who had taken along their 3 year old, he attempted to build a sand castle and had his hands obsessively wiped by his mother every single time he scooped up a handful of sand. There has to be a happy medium, wash hands before eating, after the loo etc. But every single time a child touches sand? What will happen to him when he starts school and comes into contact with all sorts of basic bacteria to which most of us are immune by that age? I was told afterwards that every chair and table in their house had been wrapped in foam rubber to protect him from hurting himself. So again, when he starts school he'll not instinctively stop himself from running into desks and drawers. How is that helping him?
Like Ginger Ninger's mum, mine sent me off to play with anyone who happened to have the latest childhood illness. A couple of weeks ago I had a panicked phone call from my daughter. Our eldest grandson had been sent home from nursery with Chicken Pox. 'Shall I keep the little one away from him?' she asked, to which my reply was 'Don't be so bl$%dy stupid.'

[Hilary B]

On a related subject, I never used a stair gate (not least because the types sold at the time wouldn't fit the staircase where we lived just then).
I did what my Mum had done, taught them to come downstairs safely as soon as they could go up. Oh yes, there was another aspect. I made sure they knew that falling off the LOWEST step was a nasty experience. They never risked finding out what it was like to fall from further up........

[MrsC]

Well, all I can say is, you want to watch kids in school picking dirt out the bottom of the treads of their shoes and then picking their nose, sticking their fingers in their mouths, I'll stop now.... Personally, load of rubbish in my opinion. Let kids be kids!

[HeyWayne]

On a related subject, I never used a stair gate (not least because the types sold at the time wouldn't fit the staircase where we lived just then).
I did what my Mum had done, taught them to come downstairs safely as soon as they could go up. Oh yes, there was another aspect. I made sure they knew that falling off the LOWEST step was a nasty experience. They never risked finding out what it was like to fall from further up........

As we're on the subject of baby safety I have a confession to make.

I am responsible (see parents can say it) for him falling off the bed the other day and he landed on his back with a thump (I've felt rotten ever since). In some respects we're lucky he did it when he did - we took delivery of a new bed today and you need a spring board to get on it!!

Needless to say Bean continues to roll on the bed until he falls off (me catching him), so the experience hasn't deterred him.

Whoever said "he'll only do it once" didn't know our Bean.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Falling down the stairs was a relatively regular occurance when I was little - partly because I have an older brother who egged me on to jump down from higher & higher stairs, and partly because my mum had a particular coat that I thought would allow me to fly when I wore it like a cape.

Didn't do me any harm...........

[Two_Sheds]

Official tests on animals at Godstone Farm show that ponies and droppings of wild rabbits were infected with the bug ... guinea pigs, ducks, chickens, chipmunks, rheas and pet rabbits were cleared of passing on the bug.

....Results of tests by the VLA, however, now point the finger at the ponies and also suggest there may have been a wider problem from infected droppings of wild rabbits.

Ponies or rabbits 'to blame for E coli outbreak at Godstone Farm' - Times Online

[Two_Sheds]

It looks like Shetland ponies have grazed on grass infected by wild rabbits, children have then touched the pony's mouths, then their own mouths, and caught the infection.

The farm should've had BIGGER signs up saying "please wash your hands after touching our animals"

[Two_Sheds]

you want to watch kids in school picking dirt out the bottom of the treads of their shoes and then picking their nose, sticking their fingers in their mouths ...

sneezing all over their desks, wiping snotty noses on cuffs, chewing their hair, the pencils ... I am fastidious about washing my hands in school and not touching my face, but I still catch cold after cold from school

[Hilary B]

Maybe in this age we do need signs that are almost idiot proof (NOTHING is foolproof, fools are too ingenious). Perhaps saying something like "If your child has touched an animal, make sure hands are washed BEFORE touching anything else. Do not allow clothing to come into contact with the animals unless it can be laundered before any possible infection can be transfered back to hands. If you do this, then as soon as your children come into contact with any infection whatsoever, they will be ill, but it won't be our fault!"

[ginger ninger]

What about "Touch the animals at your own risk" That way the poor farmer might not be sued by everybody and there grandma...mind you it Say's don't walk on the grass in park's....enough said.

[organic]

On the dirt=good for the immune system thing...
...I've only just heard about this (I avoid listening to the news because things like this just annoy me) and find myself chuckling.

I came back from the allotment yesterday and ate my tea without washing my hands properly. A quick run under the cold tap to get the worst off but was still grubby as hell when I sat at the table.

I've always been really bad at washing my hands EXCEPT after touching animals I'm allergic to. Cats are still the devil incarnate and really make me itch and sneeze, but dogs hardly affect me at all these days (they used to) and I've got a sneaking suspicion the improvement in my condition is down to my "lack" of hygiene with things like dirt.


As for common sense and personal responsibility. I'm all for it!
Let's ban "no win no fee" lawyers and we'll sort a lot of this out.


When I've got kids I'll TEACH them to make mud pies if they don't figure it out on their own.
"Right, you lot, get out of the house and don't come back until you're covered in mud, have ruined your Sunday best and at least one of you is crying!"



EDIT
Oh yea - and every kid I'm blessed with WILL be getting a pocket knife as soon as they are old enough to learn to use one safely and keep it nice and sharp.

[Two_Sheds]

Your immune system isn't fully functioning until you're what, about ten? A bit of dirt never hurt, but I wouldn't deliberately expose a child to e-Coli without washing their hands.

I just wonder: are the same parents now suing the farmer the same folk who let their dogs cr@p on pavements and playing fields? Just musing really. I don't mean that they deserve infection, not at all.

It's becoming a compensation culture because people won't take responsibility for themselves ... it's always "someone else's fault".