We camped a lot as kids and dirt was considered a condiment. Mom was a nurse, so was extra careful about things like warm potato salad and food being left out, but we certainly didn't bleach or sanitize everything like people do today. I remember eating green apples and spending all night in the bathroom, wading in irrigation ditches to catch tadpoles and trying to make wattle and daub huts with a mixture of dirt and who knows what from the horse pasture.
I didn't get asthma or allergies until I "grew up" and bought into the sanitization craze.
While some safety precautions these days are good - bike helmets being the biggest example, I do think kids are being overprotected today. Maybe they wouldn't need so much protection if they got punished for doing something wrong instead of just reasoned with.
OK - I think I've officially crossed the line into geezerhood with that last paragraph.
Welcome to geezerhood! I crossed the line a while back when I found myself thinking, "I'd never let my daughter out of the house wearing that!" This from me, whose skin-tight french-cut jeans were near legend on my dorm floor in college.
It does seem a shame that kids aren't allowed to be - well - kids these days. Not good for them, their parents or our society.
Posted by: Mary Schmidt | September 6, 2006 12:29 PM | Permalink to Comment