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Hmm, I agree in principal, but city dirt often has a high concentration of things I don't want my baby eating, like lead and dog pee. The dirt itself doesn't really bother me, so I'm just judicious about *which* dirt I let her explore.

er, I mean principle...

Uh, yeah. Have your soil tested for lead before you start letting your kid eat dirt. We did, and it turns out our backyard has 4x the acceptable level (~1200ppm). Eating a quarter teaspoon of that a week would be enough to cause elevated blood lead. So any uninhibited dirt-play by our daughter is going to have to happen somewhere out in the unspoiled country.

We are those people at the park who let their kids take off their shoes and run wild in the grass and dirt. We live in an apartment in a town where most families with children do not so I think we may be a little more obsessive about our kids "experiencing" nature than others around us. That said, it always bothers me that all the other parents at the park are hovering over their children and constantly telling them not to run, not to chase kids, not to go down the slide on your stomach, not to touch the dirty little sticks on the ground. It is sad that parents (where I live at least) seem to be so discouraging when their kids are outside and at the park. All they are doing in the long run is teaching them that inside is the only safe place and your lawn is to look at, not use.

I understand not eating the dirt with high lead content. I am talking about simply touching dirt, grass, and acorns.

I completely agree with the general sentiment of letting kids be kids, and that that means getting down in the dirt sometimes.

That said, as the parent of a food allergic child, I am a bit sensitive to the idea that being too clean "causes" food allergies. The fact is that no one's yet sure what has caused the rise in food allergies in America - more research is needed.

Our family is not germaphobic, either, but it's funny, I feel like I have to run around proclaiming, "we're filthy, I swear!" to convince people that our own hygiene practices didn't cause our daughter's allergies. Sometimes it feels as though others are even *blaming* us for our daughter having allergies. I wish it were as simple as letting her get more dirty, but in my experience it's not.

Baumgak,

I totally laughed at your post "we're filthy, I swear!"

My parents are vets - I grew up with lots of pets in our house, and my siblings and I all worked at their office 1 - 2 short days per week for most of our jr. high and high school years. We also had a big backyard and lived close to the mountains - we spent a lot of time outside, with pets, getting dirty, etc. (amazingly, my mom somehow managed to keep a very organized house despite all of this!)

Anyway, I have a SEVERE shellfish allergy, and lots of seasonal allergies to boot. I'm actually also allergic to cats. I agree that you can't *cause* your children's food allergies...but I think it's one of those broad statements that if you look at 10,000 kids with obsessive parents, maybe, just maybe, a few more of them will have allergies than the non-obsessive parents.

Of course, those kids will have more broken legs, so you know... :-)

I'm a big believer in exposing kids to dirt. When we go to the post office, I often let my baby crawl around on the floor if my toddler is being particularly difficult and the line is long. I always get these disapproving and horrified looks but the reality is that the post office floor is probably cleaned daily which is much more often than I can say for the carpet in our house! A little germ exposure won't hurt!!

I grew up on a farm. Once, while practicing my highwire act on the fence surrounding the pig pen, I fell and landed (of course) on the wrong side of the fence. As someone who has literally been covered from head to toe in pig poop, I can honestly say there is no dirt my kids can play in that will faze me.

In the words of my nephew Diego (5yrold) - "Dirt don't Hurt!"