Is it REALLY gross, or are people just uptight? - Page 2

[Leilalu]

Uptight. Children are by nature sensual. This is how they learn.

[momto l&a]

I think its important for kids to play in dirt.

cant remember whats in the dirt right now thats good for us anyway its good bacteria

[Ammaarah]

Some of my best childhood memories are of sitting in a mud puddle in my undies with my best friend for hours. I feel sorry for my future daughter with our association-maintained chemlawn. I'll have to find her some quality dirtpiles to investigate.

[BensMom]

I am sooo not a germophobe! This weekend, DS was at MILs house and was playing with some floaty letters in a large bowl of water in the grass outside. Well, some grass clippings and dirt got in there and he had a spoon and was playing "alphabet soup". I tried to stop him, but he would sip some of the "broth" from his soup. Oh well. Its only dirt, right? And I know MIL does not use chemicals or anything on her lawn. All of the ILs were looking at him, making comments about how gross it was. If DH had seen, he would have stopped him too. I honestly did not think it was worth a tantrum to get him to stop. We were building his immune system, right?

:LOL

[johub]

Kids who get dirty have stronger immune systems and less asthma.
I welcome the germs and etc. . . in that dirt.
My kids have always been allowed and enocuraged to get good and dirty.
Kids are washable
There is nothing you can get from dirt that i am afraid of.
Joline

[kewb]

I have told my kids that coming home dirty means they had a good time.
Everything is washable.

[johub]

Originally Posted by babydoll

ANother thing - every once in awhile I will be at the grocery store or shopping and I will see a dirty filthy kid/baby sitting in the shopping cart while the mother is shopping. THat is absolutely neglectful! I want to tap them on the shoulder and say - "ever heard of soap? -it is cheap!"

( that is a huge pet peeve of mine!)

My sister would bathe her kids before bringing them to the park and then not let them play in the sand in case they got dirty!! That is absolutely a pet peeve of mine.
SO what if I take my kids to the store AFTER taking them to the park. Or after lunch in which my toddler dumped his spaghetti on his head.
I dont know if you assume that children at the grocery store look at their best and if a child is dirty then he never gets a bath.
In my experience baths often come at the end of a day in which a child gets dirty, and not at frequent intervals throughout the day as they get dirty.
Joline

[Dodo]

I think that people expect kids to be dirty, but babies to be clean. I know I do a double take when I see a muddy baby. Maybe the comments will lessen in the coming year.

[babydoll]

what I mean

Okay, I'm really not trying to cause trouble, but this really bothers me. You have no idea what might be going on when you see a mother and a dirty child. Sometimes I'll be out with my kids, and no matter how hard I try, they get dirty, spill something on their clothes etc. We can be making a five minute trip somewhere, and we'll leave with clean clothes, and arrive somewhere with a shirt stained, a mouth covered in chocolate milk, and there's no way I'm going to turn around and go back home because my kid has a dirty shirt on. My youngest will not wear shoes for more than 30 seconds at a time, and goes barefoot everywhere because of that, so yes, her feet look filthy most of the time. But it's better that than fighting the "Put on your sandals" battle every five minutes. And there are other times where we've been to the park for a few hours, and we stop at the grocery store on the way home for something we need for dinner. I'm not going to leave my kids in the car, and I don't always carry a change of clothes or wet wipes with me so that they can be more "presentable" in the grocery store. Sorry. They're kids, and getting dirty is what they do.


I don't mean ring around the mouth from chocolate milk or dropped food on their clothes ( I do change that as soon as I can), I mean the child that looks like they have just rolled around in mud for hours. There is no excuse on this earth for taking your child out that filthy. period!

Also have some consideration for the people that will use the cart next.

[AmyAngel]

I think I'll probably be OK with the dirt. Kids are washable, you know! My mom has pictures of us completely filthy head-to-toe, and tells often about the times we were so dirty they hosed us off outside before letting us in the house. I grew up on a dairy farm and our favorite fun things were sliding down the side of a huge pile of red dirt, digging through the just-plowed fields looking for treasure (there were old houses on the area a century before), wading through the creek and playing in the hay. We helped in the garden and dairy barn a lot and played in the sandpile and gravel driveway every day. Some days we really were FILTHY, what with the cows and mud and all.

For a very little kid I'd watch what goes in her mouth, but otherwise go for it! Red clay mud makes great face paint! The dairy is gone now, and I was actually wondering the other day where she would go to run around outside and explore. I may deliberately make a mud puddle at my parents house just for that purpose.

I do remember once being too dirty for my mom to take us in the grocery store - but I think we'd been riding in the cubby in the back of the Volkswagen bug (no car seats then!) and had gotten grease on our clothes in my dad's workshop so it was a little worse than regular "kid dirt". I also think she was in a hurry that day, and really wanted us to stay in the car with our aunt!

When I see a really dirty kid at the grocery store, I just assume they've had a fun day and are picking up some items on the way home. It's the GROCERY STORE - who dresses up for that? I've seen people there in pajamas!

That said, my dad is a mechanic and still almost always has some sort of grease stain or dirt on his clothes, and has to take a shower before going anywhere - and it's impossible to work a dairy without getting some kind of messy so my whole family had the dirt thing going on!

[morninglark]

Originally Posted by Stacymom

Besides, one of my great pleasures is having a really dirty kid, getting them in the bath at night, and seeing them get all clean and come out smelling so good!

I love that, too!

I also love that my DS explores the world--is out in the world. It builds him as a person, immunologically, physically, emotionally.

I used to be freaked about people with dirty babies until I had one ...

[loraxc]

Hmm--well, I've never actually seen a kid CAKED in mud in a grocery cart.

I may try to get the obvious crust off before we go out in public :LOL but that's about it. Unless a child is really, truly filthy and ragged and hasn't had a bath in days--I would never think thing one about seeing a dirty kid at the store. Seriously, I kind of hope you don't see mine.

There's a kid in my playgroup whose mom is obviously uncomfortable with her getting even a little dirty, and it makes me sad.

[USAmma]

Children learn about their world by getting in it, and yes, getting dirty. Last week I was at waiting for my dd1 to finish a class at Parks and Rec, and there was a shallow puddle of water in the courtyard outside her class. My toddler was running around and so was this other toddler. That toddler went over to the puddle and stepped in it, and her mom said, "no no no no we do NOT want you to play in that puddle. Gross, yucky water! No no!". Well my dd went right over and started stomping in it, then squatted down and splashed in it with her little hands, looked up and smiled at me, splashed some more. I just washed her hands with a wipe when it was time to go. No biggie.

My IL's are also paranoid about dirty, and my dh is but tries to keep it to himself because he knows it's okay for them to play. But every time I turn around he's saying "Don't lie down on the floor, it's dirty" or some such comment. He catches himself and then says, Well it's not that dirty. He's really trying. My IL's make a huge deal out of it though. :

[Mackenzie]

Originally Posted by babydoll

I have a just turned 3 year old and I have to tell myself that is is normal for her to play outside and get dirty and that is part of life and learning. I don't know how old your baby is, but I confess I would be staring too if I saw a baby covered in mud making mud patties - especially at a park. Consider the germs, bacteria, and parasites you don't see. How many cats have walked through there and used it without you seeing - just because you don't see poop doesn't mean they haven't been doing it. Ringworm, ecoli, histoplasmosis (disease from bird droppings) are to name a few. Not to mention things like bugs, stickers, etc. that could scratch or injure your baby. A stick is not a safe toy for a baby - they could poke themself in the eye! As they saying goes God made dirt and (a little) dirt don't hurt - but consider how dirty are you letting your child get? I have seen mom's doing this a few times at the park and it drives me nuts. I think it does border on neglectful parenting. As a parent it is our job to keep our children safe. I think you have to use comon sense.


ANother thing - every once in awhile I will be at the grocery store or shopping and I will see a dirty filthy kid/baby sitting in the shopping cart while the mother is shopping. THat is absolutely neglectful! I want to tap them on the shoulder and say - "ever heard of soap? -it is cheap!"

( that is a huge pet peeve of mine!)

Oh hecksters! I better break down and buy a protective bubble for my boys because that is the ONLY way that I am going to keep them out of these things. My five year old is a kid who LITERALLY leaves a ring in the bathtub at night. And that is an average day. My 21 month old is well on his way to the same lifestyle. IT IS OK! You are exposed to ALL sorts of filthy mcnasties evert single day but to be overly clean if often not good for a healty immune system. A few small illnesses, to us, is a whole lot better than a big huge one.

[johub]

Originally Posted by loraxc

There's a kid in my playgroup whose mom is obviously uncomfortable with her getting even a little dirty, and it makes me sad.

I was at a party with dh and the kids a few months back. WE were in a friend's backyard playing ring around the rosie with the kids (mine are 3 and 1 1/2 and 1 1/2 and 13) THis sweet little girl just watched and watched us and we asked her to join and she did once, but then she bowed out. She was too afraid she would get dirty. She was maybe four. She sat on the sidelines of life watching other kids have fun, unable to join because of fear that falling down on the grass will make her too dirty.
Another time when my ds1 was an infant I went to my dd's basketball game.
HE was crawling and we sat down on the pavement and he just crawled around. Another mom was there with a child the same age and she just stood there holding him for the entire time. She kept shifting around and looking terribly uncomfortable and irritable like she just didnt want to be thereand the baby kep fussing to get down. And I thought, if she just felt it was OK to put her baby on the ground both of them would be enjoying themseves much more.
So I suppose it is my experience that the fear of getting dirty seems to me to be an awful inhibition to full enjoyment of life and for me and my kids, I want none of it.
JOline

[Artisan]

It's threads like this that make me love MDC. You would never see this conversation anywhere else. Of course kids are supposed to get dirty!

[irinam]

Originally Posted by babydoll

There is no excuse on this earth for taking your child out that filthy. period!

Why should there be an excuse? Who should she make her excuses to? I guess I don't really understand your logic. Is it because dirtied-up kids do not present a pleasant view that we see on the TV on on the cover of magazines?

I am all for a healthy helping of dirt. Johub's posts pretty much represent my point of view

[Pandora114]

I WISH my kid would get dirty!

Ever since she was mobile, I put her on the grass outside and she would FREAK. Didn't like the feel.

My dad led her out to the garden with a little shovel to see if she would help him...no dice..she pitched a fit

She gets sand on her she runs up to me and goes "mummy clean off?" wanting me to brush it off her...

She HATES dirt, even though I've given her ample opportunity and just sat back and let her do her own thing. Sticks..I make her put down though because she's a toddler and can put her eye out.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...4/HPIM0350.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...4/HPIM0335.jpg

How she PICKS the flowers:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...4/HPIM0343.jpg

She DOES however, Really like Crayon....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...4/HPIM0319.jpg

*sigh* I do give her lots of opportunity..I really do....*sigh*

[Mallory]

My kids do go to the grocery store covered in mud. What usually happens is they've been out playing all day and are in the neighbors yard, I realize we have nothing for dinner so I grab shoes and shirts (since all they have on is shorts) and get in the car and pick them up next door, then I realize they have mud in their ears, or sand in thier hair, or sticky black popsicle drips all over or all of it and more, and we have no wipes ect. but we are hungry. So we go to the store messy. Or we ride bikes to the store and they ride through all the puddles and get that black stripe up thier backs from the splashes.


It doesn't make any since to bathe them to go five blocks when they are going to be right back in the mud in 20 minutes. While I do try to wipe of hands and faces, it doesn't always happen, and quite frankly a little mud is probably the least worry of any thing your kid might pick up from a grocery cart.

[lilylove]

My Dd loves to get dirty, and she is good at it. I joke that she gets dirty just going from the tub to her bed :LOL
I agree, kids get dirty, thats what they do. Thats what they are supposed to do.

Ha. I just looked down and saw a spot of mud on my 9 month old's head.