Let Them Get Grubby

Get your kids off the couch and into the big wide world where they can be exposed to microbes that will help them be healthy – that’s the plea from two scientists in a fascinating new book.

FOR such little guys, microbes pack a big evolutionary punch and they’re alive and kicking in your gut by the trillion. They encompass bacteria, viruses and other organisms that can be seen only with a microscope. But despite being the smallest forms of life on Earth they’re possibly the most misunderstood.

In their new book, Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Our Children From An Overs anitized World, Canadian scientists Brett Finlay and Marie­Claire Arrieta explore the important impact microbes – good and bad – have on us, even before we’re born.

In this extract they address common fears and frequently asked questions of parents who want to raise healthy children. Some of their findings are surprising, so prepare to get your kids’ hands dirty!

ONE of the main reasons parents have an aversion to letting kids play outside is the notion they can get sick from being dirty. But by cleaning up our children’s environments we prevent their immune systems from maturing in the way they have for millions of years: with lots and lots of microbes.

Life for our ancestors involved massive exposure to microbes from the environment – food, water, faeces and many other diverse sources. Compare that to our current way of life, where meat comes on sterile polystyrene pans wrapped in plastic, and our water is treated and processed until it’s free of nearly all microbes.

Most children enjoy getting messy and sucking on things: babies are constantly putting their hands, feet and every imaginable object in their mouths. Crawlers and early walkers have their hands all over the floor then in their mouths. Older kids love digging in the dirt, picking up worms and catching frogs and snakes.