Priming The Pump With Dirt

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen" - Albert Einstein

It seems our conventional reasoning was wrong once again. We have had it ground into us from childhood that germs are bad, and we went about on our merry way trying to eliminate them from our lives. We live in clean houses with no rats, we use bleach on the toilet and hand sanitizer by the gallon. If baby drops the pacifier, it goes right in the dishwasher.

Turns out that wasn't such a great idea.

You see, science is telling us more and more that germs are not the enemies we once thought they were. Oh, they can be bad, for sure, but they can also be beaten...but only if we expose ourselves to them early and often. Kind of like "joining them" as opposed to "beating them".

New studies into the effects of children's environments have showed in no uncertain terms that children who are raised in the company of germs and allergens are far better off later in life. This exposure primes the immune system just like a vaccine, and the benefits are life-long.

Here are a couple of well-researched examples, but there are many more:

Children who grow up in close proximity to animals are much less likely to get asthma and other allergy-triggered illnesses as adults.

Children who are exposed to other children and their germs early and often (such as in daycare) are at least 30% less likely to get childhood leukemia than isolated kids. And the sooner this exposure starts, the better, one study showed that 2 years of age may be too late.

Same goes for allergens. Children exposed early to peanuts are less likely to get peanut allergies, which is the exact OPPOSITE of the recommendation of just a couple years ago.

So, the moral is, dirt is good. Sterile is bad.

Go adopt that alley cat. Let your child play on the big foam mushroom at the mall.

And best of all, the five-second rule is back, baby!