Can I help sharing this? I can use this NY Times article in the Health section as justification for my grimy floors. I’ve been wary of anti-bacterial soaps and hygiene products for years, and have certainly let my children get their share of dirt and other interesting substances from the floors and from outside, but isn’t it so nice when the scientists agree with you?
I especially love the section on worms. Beneficial worms? Why not? Maybe if I get myself some more worms, I can get rid of my asthma. Maybe exposure to worms is why my asthma isn’t really that bad. Maybe if we get a dog, we can keep the kids from developing it, too.
H. I. P. 
January 27, 2009 at 9:13 am
Yes! I palled around with an immunologist for a while, and she was a big believer in the idea that too much cleanliness is bad for you. She certainly observed conventions like washing her hands after using the restroom, etc., but she was pretty relaxed about petting animals, or picking up a cookie off the floor, etc. She used to call it “exercising your immune system.”
January 27, 2009 at 11:45 am
I love and totally agree with this post. Found it through MMB. One of my friends likes to let kids play at the park in “earth dirt,” not that nasty “people dirt.”
January 27, 2009 at 3:50 pm
I’ve heard this, too. And I like that “exercising your immune system.” I am a bit of a freak about grime, though. I try not to let it bother me, really I do.
I currently have a huge old honkin’ backlog of blog posts to read, but when I’m through them, I’ll be following your link to find out about the worms that I need to be keeping around.
(I’m so glad you’re blogging again, Sarah! I missed you!)
January 27, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I recently took my children to the doctor for their well child visits. The doctor told me my children should be washing their hands with soap and water every hour when we are home and every fifteen minutes when we are out in public. Insane, huh?
The article makes me feel a little bit better about the way we actually live.
January 27, 2009 at 4:18 pm
This makes me so happy.
January 27, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Also, Crystal, your doctor is nuts.
January 27, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Ditto — Crystal, does your kids’ doctor perhaps have some unresolved OCD issues?!
January 27, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Yeah, Crystal, that’s a little creepy. If you read the article, you’ll be able to reassure yourself that your dr. is over-the-top.
January 31, 2009 at 12:31 am
I use this same logic to justify allowing my kids eat chocolate cookie dough, too.
February 5, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Ha! I have called it “building up your immune system” in reference to the kiddos!
The antibacterial soaps are actually a bad idea for people with one of the “itis’s” that I have… so I don’t. I think plain old soap after you use the bathroom, before you prepare food and immediately when you get home from being out is a really good idea… but once an hour? Good heavens!