eating dirt? good? not in my school…

Since all instinctive behaviors have an evolutionary advantage or they would not have been retained for millions of years, chances are that this one too has helped us survive as a species.

I remember playing in the dirt a lot as a kid and I know that I ate a good portion of it. Dirt cakes? You bet. I used to get sick basically once per year really badly and that was it. My brother had asthma and allergies and he’s basically outgrown both because of, I believe, the fact that my parents let us play around outside while still being careful with him.

Here in Taiwan, dirt is an even worse situation. Chinese medicine has its place, but a little girl’s grandmother came in the other day, in the middle of cold season and with half the school sniffling and sneezing, and stated that her daughter was not allowed to wash her hands because water would make her sick. Oy.

On our last day last week three of us took our kids to the park and let them play in the dirt and sticks and run around without telling them to not have so much fun (yes, I’ve been told to tell the kids that before). You know what? They had a great time and it probably did them a world of good.

I hope to do it again in the future so that these kids can build up a natural resistance, because they sure aren’t going to get it anywhere else. One of my kids takes five pills every day. You’d think he was 70, not five. Probably 2/3 of Chris’s class take some kind of medicine (preventative or active) every day. It’s almost frightening.