One of my favourite pastimes when very young was digging up road tar with a lollipop stick, aided by my curly-haired friend Anne from across the street; we probably licked the tar. When not profitably occupied with this, I used to play \u201calleys\u201d in the gutter \u2013 rolling marbles to hit an opponent\u2019s marble, thereby acquiring it. As I recall, the streets were quite dirty by today\u2019s standards: dogs wandered free, no-one stooped and scooped and the gutters were replete with assorted detritus discarded by the less than fastidious inhabitants of Canton, Cardiff. I enjoyed my childhood, including the dirt; now I look askance at my children as they scrub the germs off my grandchildren with smelly antiseptic \u201cwipes\u201d. \u201cA little dirt won\u2019t hurt them\u201d, I say, thinking to myself that they are being deprived of one of childhood\u2019s pleasures \u2013 filth.<\/p>\n
As an aside, it\u2019s hard not to notice that as we become more obsessively hygienic physically, so we are becoming more polluted spiritually. Hand sanitisers are in every doorway, yet we live in a culture pervaded by pornography, one that holds up homosexual copulation as an exemplary pastime and one which actively suppresses any expression of Christianity in its civil institutions.<\/p>\n
It seems that today\u2019s children are deprived in two ways: they are physically too clean for their own good<\/a>:<\/p>\n Children should be allowed to play in the dirt, research suggests<\/p>\n Scientists have discovered that bacteria on the surface of the skin play an important role in combating inflammation when we get hurt.<\/p>\n The bugs dampen down overactive immune responses, which can lead to rashes or cause cuts and bruises to become swollen and painful.<\/p>\n The findings support previous research which suggests that exposure to germs during early childhood can prime the immune system to prevent allergies.<\/p>\n The so-called \u201chygiene hypothesis\u201d has previously been used to explain why increasing numbers of children suffer allergies such as eczema and hay fever in more developed countries.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And are being exposed to pollution that won\u2019t come off in the bath<\/a>:<\/p>\n Children as young as five are simulating sex acts at school because they are exposed to pornography on satellite television and the internet, a senior MP has warned.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of my favourite pastimes when very young was digging up road tar with a lollipop stick, aided by my curly-haired friend Anne from across the street; we probably licked the tar. When not profitably occupied with this, I used … Continue reading