Someone out there gave parents the idea that baby toys should be boiled or disinfected. With the intent of providing protection for children who are generally healthy the over reacting actions might be more harmful than wise. As adults they will have a lower immune system. More for profit than for concern the media promotes antibiotic products. No longer hidden in washrooms, hand washing stations lurk everywhere. In this rush to be “germ less” important big picture facts are forgotten. Having dirty hands is insignificant compared to the pollution of our air, our soil and water.

There’s an old “30 second rule” joke still around. Basically something dropped but scooped up within that thirty seconds or so is still clean and even quite eatable. You may laugh or shudder, but really there aren’t many germs found there.

Do children need to fear anything “dirty” or imagine that there are germs everywhere? Yes, bacteria are everywhere. “Bacteria” is not always a bad word. There’s some irony happening here. In this craze of anti-bacteria soap, and “protect yourself” signs at new hand cleaning stands, the much larger picture is pushed out. No matter how clean our hands, we live in a time when we have thoroughly diminished the quality of our water, air and earth.

Remember “Sparkling clean water?” Before the kids go swimming parents may want to ask around about the pollution level. Of course kids can’t avoid getting water in their mouths, but they needn’t drink consume cups of it like the orangeade at the beach stand. (Sugar drinks would be another topic.) But are the heavily chlorinated pools any better? A little simple wisdom increases the odds of better water. If there are tankers across the skyline, you’d correctly assume water pollution. In a lake where loggers are the only visitors, chances of clean improve. Lakes where large or no motors are prohibited offer better odds of clean as well.

The phrase, “Sparkling Clean Water.” now describes bottled water rather than bodies of water. Before the kids go for a splash parents can ask about the lake (or ocean) pollution level. Getting water in their mouths and noses is a given, but they are unlikely to experience any “post swim” symptoms. Are chlorinated pools better? Use a simple water quality calculation: Scan the sky line for tankers, count 2, OK, count 30, assume water pollution. At barely discovered mountain lakes, your odds of pollution change completely.

On a weekday during breakfast time, out in the parks and around the school grounds men in white protective overalls and masks are spraying herbicides on the grass where your kids will sit later. A few companies make the effort to leave warning signs, but it’s not law. If you were out walking the dog, you’d see skull and cross bones on their tanks, that’s definitely not water in the spray hose. A picnic table in the park later would have fewer undesirable residues than on that lovely lawn. Some research connects these chemicals to neurological development problems and cancer.

It’s sensible to keep normal hygiene and cleanliness habits. Hand cleansing after being in the washroom or before eating meals are still healthy actions, your mother may have said the same. Keeping away from those people who have contagious forms of pneumonia or other serious diseases isn’t difficult to understand. Use food safe rules in the kitchen.

Be proactive, rather than fearful. Ask for stricter rules against what’s dumped in the water. Bang on the city hall door, demand the end of spraying. Point fingers at the worst air polluters and ask for change. In the big picture parents can do more for their children and grandchildren through activism than by boiling the rubber ducky.

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