I watched a programme a couple of weeks ago, about allergies. I didn’t really want to watch it, but we were visiting Delores and her lot and she “simply had to see it’ Pah…Delores always has to ‘simply have’ something or other!
Anyway, it turned out to be quite interesting, and to be honest it backed up a good deal of what us old ‘uns tell the young ‘uns all the time…kids need to get dirty.
Since all the electronics came to be kids don’t seem to get out and play even a fraction as much as they used to. The sit indoors when they should be out running around with a football or climbing trees or playing with the dog. In the winter they sit in short sleeved shirts with the central heating blasting…it’s expensive and it’s no good for ’em.
My children were out in all weathers, doing God knows what, but it usually involved them coming back covered in muck of some kind. It did them good, got them used to all kinds of things that the children today never get exposed to. It’s odds on that they never even rinsed their hands in the brook before eating whatever they’d taken with them.
Now if a child gets a speck of dirt on them it’s out with the hand wipes and that hand sanitised jelly stuff. (Ed’s note: hand sanitizer gel). I’m all for hygiene, but children are meant to be a bit grubby sometimes.
There are some of my great grandchildren that I have never, ever seen looking anything less than pristine, it’s abnormal and unhealthy and now the BBC agree with me maybe some of my family will realise I’m not so stupid as they think I am.
My home was always clean, but with an open fire and an army of kids in the house spotless it was not. These days you can smell the bleach before you are halfway through the front door in many homes. It stands to reason that if you kill off every germ in sight people are never going to get used to them. You could do open heart surgery on our Janes kitchen table she scrubs it so much.
I have never seen so many cleaners in one cupboard. One for the sinks and bath, another for the toilets, limescale remover for the shower screen and taps, anti-bug spray for the work tops, disinfectant for the drains…she has a cleaner for everything does Jane.
I told her the kids might breathe a little easier if she laid off the cleaning fluids, had she never considered that all the fumes may have been making little Liam’s asthma worse than it need be? Apparently no, she had not.
Maybe I am just remembering the old days through rose tinted glasses but I don’t think so. I know some people are allergic to some things and it’s just a fact, a part of who they are, but many of the allergies that children seem to have at the moment that are related to perfectly normal everyday things like dust. Of course, if they have never been around it before they are going to react in some way.
I would suggest that modern mommies spend a little less time cleaning and a little more time taking their kids outside to play.
I’ll bet you could find the programme online somewhere. It was Horizon – Allergies, Modern Life and Me and was it was on BBC2 on August 27th.
Well that’s it for now. Speak to you soon,
Regards,
Maud.
Editors note: Horizon: Allergies Modern Life and Me
Superb. I’m in complete agreement. I got into messes and ate tainted things that would bring Jane to needing smelling salts. Result? 53 and zero allergies.
THERES A WEB SITE CALLED …..EXPERIMENTAL VACCINES.ORG…better check it out,then buy some rope and stop being cowards if you want to save your children…….?????
What do you mean by the ‘old days’? Even 50 years ago I remember virtually all the neighborhood kids had issues of some type. Asthma was common one. I had a milk allergy – and still do, which is fine with me cause I hate dairy products. I really do not see the ‘old days’ as being better allergywise.
Agreed. Many things have changed for the worse over the past several decades.
Grew up in a ghetto house (we were poor). Played outside every day (even in -20F I was out wandering around playing). Still remember playing in the yard with my toy cars in the dirt, making roads and jumps out of dirt…doubt I had a bath more then once a week. I still ended up becoming allergic to ragweed in high school and still to this day its very bad for about 3 weeks every fall (like horrible bad.stay inside and hide bad). Have no idea what happened….we had pets growing up…cats, rabbits, a dog (it ran away and was the dog of the week–yes it was on TV— but my mom was so cheap we didn’t go pick it up!!!)…just saying…some of us still end up with them. I wasn’t breast fed (but neither were my 7 siblings and i’m the only one with allergies).