Give in to disgust or does dirt cleanse the stomach? Cheese bread or bananas fall down every day. Sometimes on the bus, sometimes on the playground. What nu? Finally there are facts about what is still edible and what we would rather not put in our mouths.
My little one (1 year old) naturally bends down, picks up the piece of pretzel stick again and hey presto, it disappears in my mouth. Shit, I was just in thoughts and didn't react quickly enough. Actually, it is very important to me to internalize the rule in my children: What has fallen on the floor can no longer be eaten! Theoretically completely clear, in practice it often fails. My daughter (3 years old) looks with terribly sad eyes when the last piece of apple in the bus is on the floor. Hesitantly, her hand twitches towards the floor, but she is watching me closely, what does Mommy say?
Hygiene fanatic was yesterday
Well what does she say? Now is the time to hurry. I felt like I had a second left with a decision that was digested. Well, I find the idea of what can be on that apple disgusting. On the other hand, since I have had children, I have been practicing not to be that fanatic of hygiene anymore. Our annual camping trip grounds me pretty well every year. On the first day I run after the kids with wet wipes before every snack, on the second day I don't feel like doing the dishes anymore and just wipe the plates and cutlery clean with paper towels. Go then.
And, to be honest, there is one more point: If I stick to the act and decide which piece of apple to put in the garbage can, then big tears will run straight away. My daughter can do this at the push of a button, no matter how great the suffering is.
I was pleased to see recently on Stern TV that research work was finally being done on this: a professor of microbiology took samples from the sausage bread or the banana that briefly touched the ground in various places. Places are the bus, the public toilet, the car mat, the shopping center, the hospital, the floor of a shared apartment or the park. The result surprised me. Most places hardly left any bacteria on the food. Dangerous intestinal pathogens could only be found in the park and in public toilets. But then at the end the crucial statement for me comes: The weakness lies in the method, because there are just random samples and a few centimeters further the result could have been completely different. As soon as someone has stepped into dog poop and stupidly walked where my little one just dropped his bread, a lot of germs cavort on the bread.
The second has long been up, I shake my head. "No my darling, the apple is dirty now. We'll throw it in the garbage can outside." Ok, I have to go through the sea of tears now.
This article originally appeared on Eltern.de.