Does anyone else think we're too obsessed with safety and cleanliness?

[dragon lady]

I'm a germophobe. I won't touch anything on public transport, railings, public toilets etc. I don't carry hand sanitizer around, but I do wash my hands frequently. If I see someone with the sniffles, I stay as far away from them as possible. I don't eat from suspicious looking food establishments and I wouldn't touch a cart in a supermarket.

 

I haven't been sick in years. Not even a cold.

[TheSmilingTurnip]

My fiancee is a germophobe. He gets sick a lot.

 

I'm not a germophobe. I get sick twice a year, approximately.

[greensleeves]

And can we please stop worshipping children? Crikey! Love them, yes, take care of them, of course. But stop the worship! Children need to learn their place in society.

 

I agree with this...I love my children and try to instill in them that nothing is impossible. But, I don't let them off the hook when they've done something wrong or constantly tell them how perfect they are. Children have to learn that it's okay to be human and that humans make mistakes and mess up sometimes. I think that when parents go overboard with this, their kids grow up with unrealistic expectations of the world and a warped sense of entitlement.

[JadedStar]

Ironically most germophobes that i know get sick more than those who are not. They tend to protect themselves so much that they are more suspectible the one time they can't be careful.

 

My son in law is one of those neat freaks and germophobes and drives my poor daughter crazy. My daughter is like me - we are surely not fanatical about housework or germs and such. We are not dirty but not fanatics either. I don't know how she takes him!

[Pocket Rocket]

Not only are kids not being exposed to enough microorganisms to build their imune system but ironically antibacterial cleaning agents can make things worse. You've probably watched the ads - 99.9% of bacteria gone, great! Not really. What you just did by wiping your counters with those products is leave the 0.01% of resistant bacteria without any competition to deter the growth of those strains. Just like your gut, if you wipe out your natural gut bacteria you've just opened up the gates for the badies to wreak havoc. With bacterial populations balance as well as cleanliness is key, so you're much better off using regular cleaning products.

 

I think people need to remember (in some cases learn) that there are good, bad and harmless bacteria - they're not all out to get you. Good quality probiotics (as well as good fermented foods like Natto and Kefir) are good for strengthening your immune system. It's believed that certain bacteria can aid the immune system by constantly stimulating the Peyer's Patches found in your gut. This in turn helps the body to produce an effective immune response against the real badies floating around in your gut. The verdict is still out on conventional probiotics, but in some countries it is used effectively alongside other therapies to lessen the amount of time it takes to recover from gastroenteritis and a few other gut problems.

[BornToResist]

I feel exactly the same way.

 

I picked a daycare where my son is outside 95% of the day and I always let him play in the mud or dirt, and yes I even let him ride in a shopping cart without one of those fluffy cart-germ-protector doohicky things.

 

I took him to the park and he ran up to the swings and another mom gasped and handed me one of those antibacterial wipes and said something about how I need to protect him from the germs. For some reason, another toddler's spit doesn't scare me as much as the funky smelling chemicals on that wipe.

[JadedStar]

Maybe i'm wrong but its just going a bit too far to wipe down the chains on swingsets. how many years did people survive as kids swinging on swings without coming down with the plague?

[greensleeves]

Maybe i'm wrong but its just going a bit too far to wipe down the chains on swingsets. how many years did people survive as kids swinging on swings without coming down with the plague?

 

I agree...that is anal taken to the extreme.

[TheSmilingTurnip]

Oh lord, wiping down swings???? No wonder why parents are having such a hard time raising their kids these days. People are completely overcomplicating it!