Kid Germs

Yesterday I was giving my kids their bath. We have four little ones, which fills up the tub nicely. It works out good, because I only need to use about 2 cups of water to give them their nightly bath. I guess you could say I'm doing my part to protect the environment or as the hip among us would say, "Go Green!"

Anyway, I grabbed a towel to dry them off only to find my son drinking the bath water. In my early days of parenthood this would have triggered panic, denial, or both. However, I was able to defuse the situation without the shock and awe of my earlier days. Don't get me wrong, I'm still grossed out by it, but I stay a little cooler now. So I gave him the lecture about drinking bath water (AGAIN!) and put the kids to bed.

It got me thinking about germs though. As a society we are dead set on the eradication of all microbes and germs. Soooo many companies use this to guilt parents into buying disinfectant wipes, and disinfectant hand sanitizer, and disinfectant everything. When the door to door vacuum salesmen come to your door, they try to make you feel guilty for not buying their product for your children and their health.

Look, I believe we should keep our homes clean, bathe, etc. But sometimes I wonder if all these disinfectants do more harm than good. Maybe it is just me, but the families I know that disinfect the most also seem to get sick the most. I'm starting to wonder if my kids and David Hasselhoff know something I don't.

Perhaps by drinking a little bath water, eating a few items off the floor, and chewing on other kids' toys they are, in effect, vaccinating themselves--building up an immunity to the world around them. I have no studies to back this theory up, I thought about making some data up like the news media would, but I won't stoop to their level. Besides, we all know that 83.6% of all statistics are pulled out of thin air.

This isn't a call to action, nor am I telling you to let your kids drink bath water! I am just throwing my theory out there and giving you my permission to eat that french fry you dropped on the car floor. Just don't let anyone see, especially the kids!