For a couple of years now, research results have been trickling down about a surprising factor behind allergies and asthma.
It seems that those allergic to cats often never had one as a pet, and those who did are less likely to be allergic.
More along this line was released last week. KIDS NEED DIRT! Kids need to have animal playmates. Keeping kids isolated from dirt and animal companions is bad for their health.
I’m not talking about household dirt. I mean that brown stuff that is all around us, and containing umpteem billion bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and a few arthropods.
Dirt has a bad reputation. It shouldn’t. Everything we eat comes from dirt. When we die, we will go back to dirt. (Unless walled off from the natural cycles in a crypt or sarcophagus.) Dirt is our nourishing mother, from which all good springs. (Had to write that!)
Sure, I know about dog tapeworms, and had a case of ringworm I got from a cat. But those are minor, short term infections. Allergies and asthma are long term, and can be crippling.
I played in dirt, digging in it, rolling in it, making mud pies and even eating it. That to me is part of a normal childhood. When I see parents coddling their children, making them play on carpets (ugh!) and keeping pets, if any outside, I think, “How abnormal!” “Baaad parents. Unfortunate children.”
Carpets are among the worst things to have around children.
Grass. Kids from well-to-do homes don’t have dirt in their yards. They have grass. Which is sprayed with chemicals to kill the critters. If you buy a new house, the environs have been treated with chemicals to kill the termites and the creepy crawlies. KIDS NEED CREEPY CRAWLIES! Kids don’t need poisons.
Instead, kids are invited to play in more of less sterile sand, which is not the same thing as dirt. A wholly inadequate substitute.
We have three billion years of past associations with dirt and other critters, and we need it. Dirt, the right kind of dirt, is healthy.
Other things being equal and barring serious contagious diseases, it is healthy to grow up in a barnyard, or a zoo.
Do your kids a favor. Throw away the carpets. Dig up that yard, and send the kiddoes out with little shovels and toys. Let ‘em play in real dirt. Let ‘em play with animals, lick and be licked by animals, and share their rooms with animals. They’ll thank you for it later.
