photo by kaibara87 via flickr.
Due to pregnancy induced tiredness I am going to bed a lot earlier these days, going to bed and watching TV, that is. I never used to watch much TV, I’d spend most of my evenings here in front of the computer screen. That was probably a good thing. If nothing else it saved me from ridiculous TV advertising.
The number of ads these days for anti-bacterial this and keep-your-children-safe that is driving me insane!
When did we all become such germaphobes?
My eyes just about roll out of my head as I listen to some well dressed, never a hair out of place, TV mother telling me that if I don’t wash my children’s hands with this hand sanitiser after they touch absolutely everything then I will be sent straight to Bad Mother Prison. That’s if they let me into Bad Mother Prison – they’d probably quarantine me in a bubble when they discover that I actually touch door handles in public places.
I must be covered in germs.
Nasty, insidious, evil, killer bacteria and germs.
My house is surely full of the little buggers since I don’t use anti-bacterial disposable wipes or spray the air with something that ‘deodorises and disinfects’. Don’t come to my house because you will surely die of all the diseases that are festering here.
Sure… I get that using anti-bacterial hand wash is possibly a good thing if you, or your children happen to be immuno-suppressed. I happily squirted that chilly gel on my hands before I entered the NICU to see my baby girls and before I went to visit my father-in-law after his heart transplant.
I’m also all for keeping a certain level of cleanliness, even more so if there is a little nasty running rampant through our house. I don’t let my children suck on the door handle of the public toilet or eat food off the floor in the food court. But what happened to common sense and a good amount of hot water and soap?
I’m not frightened of coming into contact with a few germs. I have plenty of them living quite happily in and on my body right now, doing me no harm whatsoever. I’m also not paranoid about coming into contact with a few everyday diseases. I take the regular precautions to avoid this, but my immune system works fine, and the odd bug here or there isn’t going to kill me, in fact, call me crazy, but it might actually do me some good.
All these ridiculous ‘99.8% bacteria free’ products and their associated advertising are just feeding on people’s paranoia and fear to make money. These crazily perfect-looking mothers with their hand wipes and their subconscious little messages that ‘bacteria free’ = clean = good mother….. it really makes my blood boil (hey maybe that will kill all the germs living on me?)!
I guess I just need to turn off the TV and read a book!
Books are much better :-)
I’m so glad we don’t have free to air TV where we live.
People freaked out when I let a toddler Princess rub black dirt all over herself, face, hair, whatever, as a toddler (ok, the fact that she was wearing a pretty white dress had a little to do with it!) because it was dirty! Really? Oh, dear … but you know, she had the biggest smile on her face!
And yes, books are better. :)
The only really strict germ related rule in our family is the “10 second rule”. You know – if food hits the ground you have 10 seconds to pick it up and you can still eat it!
Kate, I’m with you! I am not germophobic, and you know, my kids never (or very rarely) get sick. On the other hand, someone my hubby worked with had a wife who anti-bacterial’d EVERYTHING several times a today. The whole family forever had tummy bugs! My theory is your body needs to become immune to everyday germs so that you don’t get sick all the time!
I read an article on this the other day, how there are more allergies around now because our immune system hasn’t been exposes to enough germs to build our immunity.
I remember a lady at one of those baby expos horrified that I would put my baby in a shopping trolley covered in germs and not buy one of her trolley covers!!! Lol don’t tell her that I didn’t sterilize bottles either!!!
It’s called DVDs. I don’t have time in my busy life for ads ;).
And yay for a few harmless if not helpful germs!
Now dust and dander…those I’ve had quite enough of!
Hey! I thought I was following you and wondered why I haven’t seen anything for a while and came here, and I’ve missed heaps!
Congratulations on your fourth little one. I posted today for the first time about expecting again – my fourth child as well.
I’m past the initial tiredness thing – it’s so, so hard. Hang in there!
I think it’s good for kids to let them get a bit dirty. At least it’s a great excuse for the state of my house and yard most of the time.
Now I’ll sort out this subscription issue. Sorry for the rambling comment.
Hear hear! It’s ridiculous and dangerous, and it’s a con – germs live in and on us, the air, the dirt, … You’d actually be pretty sick if you killed them all. My growing mould experiment shows it really easily – lots of things completely sealed with a bit of water and off it goes, just from the air. I think you hit a nerve there :)
The allergy thing is called the ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ it goes that immune systems need a certain ammount of insult to learn how to react properly and mature. If they don’t get it, they over-react when they are exposed, hence allergies. It’s got quite a lot of evidence to back it up.
Thanks Kate, I often wonder what I am missing out on by being in front of the laptop instead of the TV. Now I know that I am not missing anything worthwhile.