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This is a terrific op ed piece from the NY Times. Somehow we have to find a balance between letting them eat a little dirt and keeping them safe without paranoia.
My kid takes the concept a bit too far - she literally eats the dirt, and the flowers, and the grass (but won't eat lettuce..)
Agree with it, free play in nature is really important for kids and I let my toddler do that as much as possible (today we're going down to the lake side to watch people wash their rugs and let her paddle in the lake, climb rocks, look for wild flowers and whatever else takes her fancy)
My kid takes the concept a bit too far - she literally eats the dirt, and the flowers, and the grass (but won't eat lettuce..)
Agree with it, free play in nature is really important for kids and I let my toddler do that as much as possible (today we're going down to the lake side to watch people wash their rugs and let her paddle in the lake, climb rocks, look for wild flowers and whatever else takes her fancy)
You have people that wash their rugs in the lake?????
That would never happen here. The DEP would fine the heck out of them.
You have people that wash their rugs in the lake?????
That would never happen here. The DEP would fine the heck out of them.
Well our local place isn't directly in the lake, it has big sinks that draw water from the lake and you wash them in there but its also very common just to have a rug-washing jetty at the lake or sea side and you dip the rugs in the water and then scrub them on the jetty. People use pine soap so it doesn't harm the lake water or anything like that.
Yeah, my mom was always in favor of letting kids roam the floor, not gettting too upset about a little dirt and we adopted that approach. Sure, you wash food,especailly potentially dangerous foods, chicken, eggs etc handled properly. You clean, and your keep the kids clean, but you dn['t have to sanitize everything. We've experienced very little sickness, and I think it's from building antibodies through the normal conduct of the day. Sure, you can't let dangerous stuff go, and it's not an excuse to be dirty, neither do you have to sanitize every surface every 5 minutes.
what kind and size of rugs? are you talking about all cotton throw rugs like in an entrance or hall? I just can't imagine this.
Usually rag rugs like you'd have in the hallway. Persian/arabian rugs are more likely to be sent to a professional although I've seen some big rugs hanging up on the wooden railings there.
Like this:
My mother [& grandmother] always said "you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die". Old saying that's been around for a long time. 'Course the dirt used to have less chemicals in it. But we're still pretty relaxed about it in general.
My son (now 8) was so into eating dirt we had him tested for nutritional deficits, he was fine.
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