dagblog - Comments for "4 Surprising Facts About Baby Rearing"

Not just Crohn's. Hygiene has

Michael Wolraich — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:34:36 +0000

In reply to I'll add to that this little

Not just Crohn's. Hygiene has also been linked to allergies and asthma. The hygiene hypothesis is based on animal studies and evidence of much lower allergy rates in developing countries. One of the currently popular explanations is that babies need parasites, which they get from literally eating dirt, to calibrate their immune systems. My brother, a doctor, lets his son put things in his mouth that have been on the ground for that reason.

I'll add to that this little

Nebton — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:05:31 +0000

In reply to I don't have kids either (as

I'll add to that this little study. Here's one tying cleanliness to an increase in Crohn's disease. I suspect it also makes us less likely to build up immunities that will help us in our battle against H1N1 (for example).

I don't have kids either (as

Orlando — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:37:55 +0000

In reply to 4 Surprising Facts About Baby Rearing

I don't have kids either (as a female, I feel fairly secure leaving off the "that I know of" caveat). I think most parenting decisions are all about personal choices. Most of us turn out all right whether our parents banned football or sugary ceral. The thing that bugs me most about our current crop of child-rearers is the focus on cleanliness. I'm fairly certain no baby ever died from chewing on shoes, licking snot off their upper lips, or rolling around on dirty floors. So how about we don't change their shirts six times a day because their spoon to mouth percentage of accuracy is only 60%.

Pretty soon all child

Larry Jankens — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:22:33 +0000

In reply to Whatever. I tend to agree

Pretty soon all child activities will involve them wearing helmets while wrapped in bubble wrap singing the safety song. I too don't have kids (that I know about at least), but feel confident in saying that some aspects of modern parenting is making kids soft.

Whatever. I tend to agree

Nebton — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:15:50 +0000

In reply to 4 Surprising Facts About Baby Rearing

Whatever. I tend to agree with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s idea of parenting: go ahead and let them brake their arm, then they will learn not to climb up trees.

Well, hopefully they'll just learn to climb up trees more carefully. Not having kids of my own, naturally I'm an expert on child-rearing. As such, I think one of the biggest tragedies of the 21st century is that children are no longer allowed to do "dangerous" things, like playing unsupervised in a creek.