by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Mud and dirt is good for your children but if you don't like washing their dirty clothes – even their play clothes – all the time then let them get dirty naked. It is good for them and boosts their immune system no end, especially both together. Nudity for children, especially boys, also ads additional metal health benefits due to the stimulation of the skin (so say some experts).
It turns out that both getting dirty and being naked as much as possible is the best way to boost the immune system of children no end. Being naked stimulates, in addition to all the other benefits, nerves and also being in that state releases various hormones that are beneficial during development but also equally good for the adult.
While this was at a time when we did not have much in the way of clothes anyway, and not much of anything really, and washing them was not always as easy as it is for most folks today, the fact that both dirt and nudity were good for us made up for it all. Not that we minded being naked (and dirty) one bit; in fact we hated the very idea of wearing clothes.
I have yet to encounter a young child, especially a boy, who would not prefer being naked over being dressed, especially when that permits him to get as dirty as he likes without getting told off for it by his parents or carers. Naked he can splash in the muddy waters and roll in dirt and mud as much as he likes, and wipe his hands not on his clothes but on himself. All that is needed at the end is to hose him down (literally).
Dirty kids equal healthy kids
Emerging research points out that the backyard garden just may be the cure for what ails us. But then that is, basically, already something that our grandparents and great-grandparents knew. Many a grandmother will have said: “A little dirt does not hurt”. And right she was. In fact, it turns out it is actually good for kids (and us all).
While in today's Western culture, children with soiled feet and grass-stained knees are hurriedly rushed to the bathtub and slathered with antibacterial soap, the loss of our connection to the garden and its dirt means a loss of connection to all the good microbes that live inside it. Too much bathing, showering and such is not good for the children and their immune system either.
Our industrialized world has become squeaky clean – and chronically ill. Many children today are prevented from going outside to play, whether to keep them clean or due to an inflammatory condition, such as allergies, asthma or eczema. Many of these ailments can be traced to a lack of good dirt in our own bodies. The problem, as it seems, may actually turn out to be the solution.
Worldwide studies based on children's lifestyles are proving that early exposure to a healthy microbiome – the community of bacteria living in your body – is a key factor to a strong immune system later in life.
The so-called anti-bacterial soaps, etc., are also seen, now, finally, as a problem rather than a benefit as they destroy all bacteria, including those that we actually need, and especially the young body in order to build a strong immune system.
Grandmothers all around the world used to say: “A little dirt does not hurt” and it turns out that not only does a little dirt not hurt but actually is good for us all and exposing – literally – the whole body to it, and those bacteria that it contains, is better still. This is probably one of the reasons why nudist children are less prone to all those ailments than children who do not come from families who live a natural life in the nude, the way that we all were made.
© 2018
