The dirt It is one of the battlehorses of all parents. Not only because of the inconvenience that it may mean that your children stain their clothes or get dirty from top to bottom. It is primarily a matter of health. Therefore, we will analyze, with data and studies, to what extent it is necessary for your child to relate to the environment and be exposed to a certain degree of dirt, and we set clear limits on what we should allow and what not.
Is it good for children to get dirty?
Yes, but to a certain extent. Scientific studies say that with cleaning and disinfection, it is as bad as going short. For example, we can keep our home clean with products such as Moppy Polti, which uses steam to remove dirt instead of using chemicals, but according to many theories, exposing children to germs is beneficial for their health since It helps them develop the immune system and defenses.
The children that have been overprotected Bacteria are much more likely to develop diseases such as dermatitis (whose cases have doubled in the last 10 years), asthma and other respiratory conditions. This is because when you grow up in closed, clean and sterilized environments, your immune system does not know how to respond when you first face a threat, or even elements that in themselves are not (such as allergens).
In this sense, taking neatness to the extreme can have negative consequences. It is necessary that there is a early contact with microorganisms so that the immune system of children learn to defend and self-regulate.
Otherwise, cells specialized in defending against external aggressions can cause your body to be too sensitive and tend to exaggerated reactions to harmless substances and microbes.
Where is the limit
Although some dirt may be beneficial for the development of our children, it is sometimes difficult for parents to establish where they are. the limit between convenient and unhealthy.
The key is to look for a middle ground, to distinguish which are licit activities and which are unhealthy in order to allow controlled exposure and defined uncontrolled exposure. Both refer to the child's exposure to microorganisms that we know and that are in our daily living habitat.
The controlled exposure allows, for example, a child to play with mud for a certain period of time. This is healthy for him, provided he washes his hands when the activity ends.
The definite uncontrolled exposure It is that natural exposure that occurs when the child comes into contact with microorganisms present in nature or in the natural habitat in which the child grows and develops.
These are microorganisms that are not strange to us, since they are present in our daily lives and we have learned to live with them. This natural coexistence between germs and human beings helps us strengthen our immune system.
They are called "germs friends". Our exposure to them occurs daily and is impossible to control, since we cannot be washing our hands every time, for example, we hold onto the bus bar or manipulate coins.
What should we, or not, let our children do?
Studies show that children who live with pets develop much more protection against disease. Also, those who put their hands in their mouths develop much less allergies (up to 31% less skin allergies), so we can let them play with the family dog and put their thumbs in their mouths with complete peace of mind.
And what do we do with pacifiers that fall to the ground? According to pediatric experts, nothing to boil them to sterilize them from the third month of the baby's life. Simply clean them with water or with the famous "hickey". Babies whose parents have this habit hardly develop asthma or dermatitis. According to the researchers, the microbes that adults transmit to them through saliva positively stimulate their immune system.
Nor should we exceed ourselves in the personal hygiene measures. Specialists recommend not bathing children more than 2 or 3 times a week. Except if they need it. that is to say: if the little ones have bathed in the sea or the pool, they have played with mud, they have become dirty in the park or they have done a lot of exercise and they have sweated, they need to go through the shower.
Now, as important as not exceeding with cleaning and disinfection is knowing keep germs and bacteria at bay. For this, it is important that we transmit to our children correct and healthy hygiene habits that include daily oral care and hand washing before each meal and after each activity that involves the manipulation of substances such as sand, mud, clay, tempera, food, etc.
It is also important that we maintain a proper home hygiene, since in our house the health of our family begins. The kids usually crawl, play on the floor or run their hands across the surfaces of walls and furniture.
Coping with excess dirt
It is necessary that, without reaching obsession, inside the house we keep a clean and healthy environment since our children spend most of their time in it.
To maintain proper hygiene in our home, once a month we must thoroughly clean oven and microwave, refrigerator, cabinets and shelves. The general cleaning of dust, glass, mirrors, bathroom elements and rooms should be carried out at least once a week.
We must lend one daily attention to the most sensitive areas to accumulate dirt and become a source of infection such as light keys, doorknobs and toilets. Also the surfaces and the kitchen sink, as well as rags, sponges, sheets, towels and trash cans. We must collect the dirty clothes and empty trash cans and garbage cans every day.
Also, we must wash the dishes every day. Remains of food accumulate germs and bacteria that can cause disease (almost 20% of food infections are contracted at home, according to a study by the University of Barcelona).
The floor of our house deserves special attention. The best way to keep a house clean is prevent dirt from entering in her. For example: we can get used to cleaning our shoes on the mat before entering and barefoot when we cross the threshold. In this way, all the dust and dirt that we bring in the shoes will be out of the house.
Also, we must dedicate a few minutes a day to the floor cleaning of the whole house, with special emphasis on the floor of the living room, the entrance and the hallways, and more especially if we have pets at home. All these areas are places of heavy traffic where our children crawl, learn to walk and play.
Experts indicate that bacteria need only a few seconds to colonize an object that falls to the ground (a toy, for example). Many of these bacteria are brought from the street, so it is a priority to keep them safe from dirt.
However, it is also not advisable to abuse bleach and detergents when we live in a house with children and / or pets. There are natural products of great efficiency for the disinfection of our home like steam, which destroys 99.9% of germs and bacteria.
So we can use alternatives that use them, such as the Moppy floor cleaner we talked about at the beginning of this article. It is capable of removing dirt without wires and sanitizes without detergents all types of floors and vertical surfaces using a steam-laden cloth.
While the microfiber cloth collects dirt, electrostatic cloths are responsible for collecting and capturing all particles. All we have to do is fill the base tank with tap water. The cloth is vaporized and you are ready to get down to work.
Finally, to ensure a healthy environment for our children, we must change and wash the linens (where an average of 6,000,000 mites live) once a week and pay attention to technological devices.
The phone, smartphone, remote control or computer can accumulate up to 30% more bacteria than a toilet lid, due to our habit of handling more than one object at a time without properly disinfecting our hands.
In short, we can allow children to enjoy and come into contact with their surroundings without obsessing, provided we maintain an optimal degree of personal hygiene and cleaning and disinfection in the home. In this way we will be strengthening their health and contributing to our children grow healthy and strong.
Images | iStock / bappleby17 / artefy / Antonio_Diaz.
