Dirt Good for Kids?

That's right. Dirt. Germs. All of those things that caring mothers everywhere thought they needed to protect their kids from might actually be, well, good for them.

In a really interesting article in the NY Times yesterday, it turns out that the tendency of babies to stick everything in their mouth is not just to make you worried as a parent-- it's actually an evolutionary mechanism to strengthen their immune system! While obviously there is a limit to how much dirt is good for a kid, there is truth to that old saying "eat a bucket of dirt before you die."

This was for me the most interesting part of the article:

“Children should be allowed to go barefoot in the dirt, play in the dirt, and not have to wash their hands when they come in to eat,” Dr. Weinstock said. He and Dr. Elliott pointed out that children who grow up on farms and are frequently exposed to worms and other organisms from farm animals are much less likely to develop allergies and autoimmune diseases.

I don't know about all of you, but I grew up with great parents, but parents that let me run a little wild as a kid. I have distinct memories of doing things as a kid that would make me, as a parent now, cringe if I saw my child doing them. Like running in the woods without shoes, like wading up to my waist in a creek that had less than clean water (to put it mildly), like eating food that had fallen on the dirty ground outside, etc. Living in the city has made me a very different parent than my own parents-- you obviously don't let your kids run around without shoes in New York!

Still, this article got me wondering if maybe I kept my kids too clean as toddlers. I grew up allergy free, dirt and all, whereas my kids grew up in a much cleaner environment, and all three have allergies and one has asthma. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but it is certainly food for thought.