Dirt is actually good for your child

Children are filthy. That’s undeniable. They stick everything they find in their mouths or up their noses regardless of where they found it. They’ll cough into each other’s mouths, eat bugs, and take large bites out of mud pies. Often our first instinct as new parents is to protect our kids from the filth of the outside world, and if possible, keep them immaculately suspended in a small tub of hand sanitizer. But the truth is dirt by itself in your backyard is not only safe, it’s probably good for your kid. Your children need to be surrounded by healthy microbes in order to develop normally. It helps build their immune system and protect them from allergies and later diseases. Experts agree that, if anything, you should surround your kids with dirt a little more often.

There are also serious advantages to raising a child who likes to be outdoors. Studies have shown that children who hang out outside or enjoy being around trees or greenery live longer, live healthier, and live happier.

One fascinating study from 2008 that nature has a different effect on the human mind than urban environments. In the city, everything grabs your attention and forces you to focus just so you don’t get run over by a car. In nature, it’s not like that. Nothing is demanding your attention, because of this, your mind is more available to think about other things. This might be why we see so many cognitive benefits from hanging out around nature.

More difficult to explain is that income inequalities surrounding health tend to disappear when you put people in greener environments. One study found you can almost eliminate the increased risk of cardiac disease seen in lower income communities when you put these people into environments where it’s generally greener.

This suggests there might be something deeper to our connection to nature than the fact that it relaxes us, it seems to actually make us healthier. Which is definitely the kind of benefit you want your kid to get, even if it means they get a little dirty.