The sad tale of the "Toilet roll centre"

Poor thing.

He used to be the favourite tool of improvisation for Blue Peter Presenters, mums and children the world over (well, maybe in the UK)!!!

But actually, NO..................he is the bearer of dreadful things called GERMS......

and so, according to some, in this Nanny State that we live in, all toilet roll centres are less acceptable than genuine evils, such as parents who neglect their children, fast food companies that target their advertising to children and Government departments who meddle in the affairs of professionals (are you detecting a rant????????) and as such

ALL TOILET ROLL CENTRES MUST NOT EVER APPARENTLY BE USED BY CHILDREN IN 'MAKING PROJECTS' IN SCHOOLS.

Because its "Health and Safety" and there's "rules".

What? Really?

Well, actually - no! But some people would have you believe that by using toilet roll centres in schools, children will apparently be put at great risk and so they must not be used. Its OK to use kitchen roll centres, because kitchens are not of course the breeding ground for bugs such as E Coli, C Diff, Salmonella. No. The only places in houses with germs are toilets/bathrooms.

A colleague made the mistake of asking for toilet roll centres in the staffroom the other day. Was told by another colleague 'categorically' that you can't use them. Then when other colleagues brought some in anyway, the 'point of fact' was then shared again by 3 other staff. I'm guessing that the toilet roll centres will keep coming!

I did a bit of hunting on the internet. This toilet roll 'myth' stemmed from East Sussex Council giving advice that IT WAS OK TO USE TOILET ROLL CENTRES AND EGG BOXES THAT LOOKED CLEAN. The additional rider to this was that this was A COMMON SENSE APPROACH. However, somewhere along the way, this actually quite sensible message has turned into the complete opposite of the intended sentiment. So much so that the Trades Union Congress actually produced a "mythbuster" document about health and safety in which the top 10 H&S myths were put to rest - 1 of them being the toilet roll saga.

So, there is HOPE for the lovely toilet roll centre.

I am restraining myself - I'm not going to rant, because actually this potential "Nanny State" story has a happy and sensible ending, where COMMON SENSE is the victor. I just feel sorry for my colleague, who was made to feel quite uncomfortable and 'stupid' for asking for something so innocent...when in fact there appears to have been no problem in her doing so.


What happened to getting dirty, being MADE to play with other children who had chicken pox so that you actually caught it, being allowed out to play, falling off bikes, climbing trees, playing conkers, sliding on icy pavements, throwing snowballs .....