Why You Should Let Your Children Get Dirty!!

I came across this article and love it!! I'm a huge advocate about letting your kids go and get dirty. My boys don't get half dirty, or so-so dirty...they go all out and become filthy! A day at the park demands a night in the tub.

I have a friend who freaks when her son gets dirty. I don't get it. She thinks he's "filthy" when he has a little dirt on his face (and only his face)! Ha!!! Even if they have no where to go, the moment they get inside he's got to get in the tub. I think it's a little much personally. Let the kid play outside, get dirty, and just savior being a boy. They grow up far too fast, we all know this. Time goes by and before we know it that tiny baby we're nursing are 6 yr olds reading US story's.

We need to enjoy these moments. The moments of getting dirty, running their tonka trucks through the dirt and sand. It's those moments we'll cherish in our hearts when they become Daddy's and Mommy's themselves.

We're not a family that carries hand sanitizer around with us. I have a bottle in my van for when we're on trips and stop at rest stops since I've yet to go into one that has soap, just cold, no freezing cold water, or if we're having lunch on a trip in the van...then we use it. Otherwise it's just good old non antibacterial (yes you read that right) soap. A little bacteria is good for our immune systems. As seldom as we're sick (and compared to many families with children around the same age we're never sick it seems!!) I think our method is working!

 

Here's the link: Why you should let your children play in the dirt - ParentDish

and the article:

 

Nolan loves dirt. He loves to smear his little fingers in whatever gooey muck he can get his little fingers into, if there is a puddle he will splash in it, if there's a chunk of thick brown soil he will attempt to insert his limbs as far as they will go. And up till now, I have stopped him: Nolan, yuck. That's dirty.

But he might just know exactly what he's doing. This recent BBC article claims that exposure to dirt might lift mood as well as the immune system. Apparently, seratonin, a key ingredient in the brown gunk, may restore a healthy immune function in people who are depressed and prone to infection.

More study is needed, caution experts, but in the meantime, I guess it wouldn't hurt all of us to learn from our kids and smear a little mud.