"Let them eat dirt!"
That quote, often cited from mixed sources, is an arguably salient truth. One of perhaps the most commonly perpetrated "crimes" against our children could be one resulting from an ever more germophobic society. With all the right intentions, we want our kids to be clean and healthy - and these two words almost always seem to go hand-in-hand: clean AND healthy. Presumably, one cannot be one without the other?
Surely, that cannot be true?
Even studies in pigs have shown that animals appear to need some germs in order to thrive - but, in people, we only seem to believe this when it comes to probiotics (the "good bacteria")... The consequence seems to be turning our children into veritable wannabes for the "Boy in the Plastic Bubble" - generations of kids with underdeveloped or misaligned immune responses. Allergies are up. Asthma is up. Reliance on antibiotics rife...Formula milk was even, for a time, touted as healthier than breast milk - a misconception that is apparently still propagated...
Now, it is probably not a good idea to start feeding your kids a bowl of garden mud in place of their cornflakes...but allowing them to play and get dirty (safely) once in a while is unlikely to hurt. Indeed, it may do them some good.
And, if there are already concerns, enhancing or rebalancing their immune system may be worth considering.
Natural medicines have several ways that are recommended by herbalists and traditional medicines practitioners - from Vitamin C and Zinc, to echinacea, to colostrum.
Now, whilst Vitamin C and Zinc can certainly benefit (taken in the right doses), and some evidence supports echinacea as an immune stimulant; colostrum, being the first feed mother mammals naturally give their offspring, may come closest to having a real beneficial effect - but probably only because of what is in it...
Surely, that cannot be true?
Even studies in pigs have shown that animals appear to need some germs in order to thrive - but, in people, we only seem to believe this when it comes to probiotics (the "good bacteria")... The consequence seems to be turning our children into veritable wannabes for the "Boy in the Plastic Bubble" - generations of kids with underdeveloped or misaligned immune responses. Allergies are up. Asthma is up. Reliance on antibiotics rife...Formula milk was even, for a time, touted as healthier than breast milk - a misconception that is apparently still propagated...
Now, it is probably not a good idea to start feeding your kids a bowl of garden mud in place of their cornflakes...but allowing them to play and get dirty (safely) once in a while is unlikely to hurt. Indeed, it may do them some good.
And, if there are already concerns, enhancing or rebalancing their immune system may be worth considering.
Natural medicines have several ways that are recommended by herbalists and traditional medicines practitioners - from Vitamin C and Zinc, to echinacea, to colostrum.
Now, whilst Vitamin C and Zinc can certainly benefit (taken in the right doses), and some evidence supports echinacea as an immune stimulant; colostrum, being the first feed mother mammals naturally give their offspring, may come closest to having a real beneficial effect - but probably only because of what is in it...