[CFW]

I've been saying the same things. My children, who were allowed to play outside in the dirt, have always been healthy. My s-i-l's children, who are not allowed out of the house without hardhats, are sick all the time.

[Lady Composer]

RE:My children, who were allowed to play outside in the dirt, have always been healthy.

I used to EAT dirt when I was a kid, and I have no allergies!

[Marie]

When my kids were itty-bitty I had a very sanitized house. They had terrible asthma. When they got older I would send them to my mom's farm for a few weeks every year. Odd thing; she smoked, warmed her house with a wood stove, had TONS of animals (in and out of the house), had a hay mound that the kids played in for hours and pollen out the ying-yang. The kids were healthy as horses until they would come home to my clean house then, after a week or two, the allergies and asthma would start up again. Well, I started smoking, got two cats and a dog and stopped vacuuming and dusting every day. They haven't been sick since.

Put Hygiene Hypothesis in your search engine. It's a disgusting theory, but interesting.

[ChefKeith]

I used to dig deep and get the "good dirt" when I was a kid and eat it. I rarely get sick(at least physically)