John Brock: There is good news for kids: Dirt is making a big comeback
By John Brock
Dirt is back! Medical research progressively indicates that dirt is our friend and that too little of it can make us sick. Good news for little boys!
Kids have always known that a little dirt never hurt anything. But, the super-clean obsessed world that we live in today may be weakening human resistant to disease. Of course, keeping some germs at bay can help prevent disease but in our All-American way of going to extremes, our sanitized lifestyle may be responsible for an increase in allergies and other ailments.
The medical field has termed it the "Hygiene Hypothesis." According to Dr. Mark McMorris of the University of Michigan, we've developed a cleanlier lifestyle and our bodies no longer need to fight germs as much as they did in the past. As a result, the immune system has shifted away from fighting infection to developing more allergic tendencies."
I believe that the more America has moved into an urban environment from a rural one, the more we have inhibited our immune system. After all, how much dirt can you encounter on concrete as opposed to plowed fields. Modern kids are not exposed to bacteria -- good or bad -- as they once were. Diseases not found in an agrarian society are surfacing in our urban environment.
There is mounting evidence that rural kids, who grow up around farm animals and the soil, are on the whole, healthier than urban youngsters. There is mounting evidence that even some of the once dreaded worms found in children's digestive tract, actually serve a good purpose. One "safe" form of worm has been identified as the whipworm in pigs which have been shown to be useful in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. I am not suggesting, nor is anyone else, that you should expose your children to worms but we need to observe what further evidence is presented as medical research goes forward.
As a father who has raised three boys in a non-urban surrounding, I can attest to the fact that kids naturally need a little dirt in order to build their immune system. Exposure to bacteria that build immunity are more readily found in the woods, around livestock animals and in the fields than in the so-called "asphalt jungle." This idea fashions the axiom that a little infection causes our bodies to become immune to more serious ailments. This is the whole concept behind vaccines. Or, as the philosopher Nietzsche said, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
My boys were and have remained relatively well -- both in childhood and in adult life. I always insisted that a creek or lake be located on or nearby our homes. Creeks are a ribbon of life liberating the soul of any kid and they are loaded with bacteria to boot. This is a good thing according to medical knowledge of today. But we really had no clue at the time. My boys spent many a happy hour in the creek - building dams, fishing, splashing or chasing crawfish. As it turns out, that may help account for their good health. So what if an occasional leech attached itself to their little legs. Leeches, too, have found their way back into modern medicine as a healing therapy for various ailments.
Parenting is a learning process and when our first child was born, we were careful to wash any item that fell from his little hands. His pacifier was thoroughly washed before being inserted back into his mouth. But, we learned and by the third child a dropped object was simply brushed off and reused.
One of our sons, who has remained healthy all of his life, was observed one day when he was 4 or 5 years old, sitting on the steps as he shared his lollipop with Katie our Collie. He would take a lick and then give Katie a lick. He suffered no ill effects and Katie, or any of our other myriad of dogs we called members of the family, often served as a comfortable pillow for an afternoon nap on the lawn.
Hand washing before meals, unless carefully supervised, consisted of sticking the tips of little fingers under the cold running water for a second or two. Baths, also, had to be carefully monitored. But they grew up relatively healthy despite a little dirt.
With the advent of vaccines, antibiotics, hand sanitizers, pasteurization, airtight houses and a barrage of indoor activities (Can you say "Video Games.") kid's bodies are no longer taxed to ward off polio, measles, chicken pox, etc. And, this has changed how our immune systems function.
"The natural immune system does not have as much to do as it did 50 years ago because we've increased our efforts to protect our children from dirt and germs," Dr. McMorris adds.
So, what should parents do? Take the kids out into the country and let them wallow in a plowed field? Buy a cow? Bathe the little fellows once a week or less? Probably not. But it does seem to make sense that whenever the little tykes complain that they are bored, tell them to "Go outside and play!"
Isn't this what our grandmothers always advised?
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John Brock is a retired college professor and newspaper publisher, who lives in the S.C. Lowcountry. He can be reached by mail at this newspaper, or by e-mail at: brock@johnbrock.com