Every time I go to the swimming pool and see this sign, it makes me laugh. Because everytime I see it I hear my own voice in my head saying to my boys, "don't drink the water in the bathtub." I say that to them almost every time they take a bath. My boys are too little to be able to read, but if they could read the sign they wouldn't understand it's point. After all they would drink the water they bathe in (and most of the time have peed in too.)A couple of weeks ago I took Ben and Jack to their well child visits. At the appointment the doctor told me that I should be having the boys wash their hands every hour when we are at home and every 15 minutes when we were out in public. I was a bit distracted at the moment she said it, so it didn't really sink in what she said until I left the office. Seriously, every 15 minutes?! Does anybody (who isn't extremely obsessive to the point they need medication and serious help) do that? Don't get me wrong, I'm an advocate of clean hands, but washing them every fifteen minutes would just be insane. An hour trip to Costco would become an hour and a half. A trip to church would involve 11 trips to the restroom to wash our hands.
Today I read a friend's blog that has a link to this NY Times Article. It makes me feel better that although I try to be a clean person, I'm not extremely obsessive about it (well, not most of the time) and that's okay.
3 comments:
It is something to thing about...gross...I don't usually drink the water but my boys usually have a gallon or two by the time we are done swimming....
I disagree. Your kids should get exposed to as many of the germs that are out there as they can (within reason). That is how a normal immune system will help them when they grow up. The germs are there, like it or not. I had a childhood friend who washed her hands all the time, refused to go out when sickness was around. Now she is sick all the time, and things that don't bother normal people very long, keep her sick for long periods of time. It doesn't work when you have an impaired immune system, or when you expose them to dangerous diseases, but I had a doctor once who said you should do things like let your kids eat dirt so their bodies can fully develop their immune system.
That is insane. You would make your child become obsessive/compulsive by having them wash their hands that often.
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