I recently read a horrifying article about a little boy who toppled off the side of a fast food restaurant’s play area and injured his head enough to make him developmentally challenged for the rest of his life.  Yikes! Did this article make me think twice about taking my kids to the indoor play areas we frequent now, specifically the mall, fast food places and at the gym? No, it didn’t.

I first took my daughter to a play area in the mall when she was first learning to crawl.  I stayed right by her side and made sure that none of the bigger, rowdy kids got near her.  The look on her face was enough for me to return the next time we were in the mall; she had a look of wonderment on her face that said, “Wow! What is this place?”

Now that we are far beyond the crawling stage, my kids still love play areas.  They’re older now so I can let them play without me hovering over them, but I still pay close attention to what’s going on.  Are there any kids who aren’t playing nicely? Are there any shady-looking adults hanging out? Is there anything about the play area that gives me the heebie-jeebies?

I know some moms who won’t even let their kids within the confines of indoor play areas because of the germ factor.  Yes, it’s true that these places probably take the cake when it comes to germy surfaces, but I stand ready with antibacterial wipes for when the kids are all done playing.  Let me tell you, there have been some days when it has been so incredibly cold outside that it actually hurts to breathe (hooray for the Midwest), but I bundle up the kids and head to a nearby fast food restaurant and let them run and jump and play in the play area until they are exhausted.  It’s great.

As far as the injury factor goes, I certainly don’t let my kids play in areas that seem less than safe.  I show them the confines they need to stay within so they don’t try to do things they shouldn’t do.  Most importantly, I keep an eye on them.  I can only imagine what dangerous mischief they might get into if I ignored what they were doing, so I make it my priority to know where they are and what they are doing.  I see a lot of parents who let their kids play in a play area but then get engrossed in a book or chat on the phone with their backs turned to the play areas.  I saw one lady do that with her baby who was barely old enough to walk – and it was a multi-level play area with a slide – and I was flabbergasted.

If you’re keeping your babies and kids out of indoor play areas because you’re worried about germs or injuries, I have to let you know that you don’t know what you’re missing.  Just keep an eye on them and wipe up their hands when they’re finished playing, and I guarantee your kids will have a great time.

My son is sick again.

I can’t believe that my chubby little baby just seems to pick up one little virus after the other like he does. Perhaps it’s because he’s the youngest of 5 children?

I suppose, even though I clean and disinfect, our house is full of germs. Poor little guy. His immunity will be awesome once he develops some resisitence to all this, but until then. Whew.

My son just recovered from an upper respiratory infection a few days ago and now, he has some sort of tummy bug. All of the kids in the neighborhood have the tummy bug, and I’ve sighted many parents purchasing Pedialyte at the pharmacy when I went in the other day. I took note and bought some myself just in case. I bought some Tylenol too for him because my supplies were getting low.

Today, I was at the doctor with my other child, and I asked her about it all. Was there any sort of cleaning product I had somehow overlooked? The kids use hand sanitizer and I have disinfectant wipes. What was I doing wrong? Why is my young son always sick?

The answer she said is because he’s the youngest of a bunch of kids and is building up immunity to big kid germs. She told me that children who first go to daycare often get sick frequently until they build up immunity. I noticed this when my oldest went to kindergarten too–she was sick quite frequently until she built up immunity to “kindergarten kid germs”. The doctor assures me that, given time, my son will be healthy and immune to these different viruses.

I’ll keep on using the hand sanitizer and I’ll continue to clean and disinfect. I’ll try to not be so hard on myself when my son gets sick though. After all, germs are everywhere.

German researchers claim that having a dog in your home during your child?s infancy, reduces your child?s risk of developing allergies. Their findings were based upon a 6 year study of 9,000 children and were published in the European Respiratory Journal recently. The findings show that having a dog in the home is associated with a significantly lower level of sensitization to pollens and inhaled allergens.

Scientists admit that they aren?t totally sure how the presence of a dog would reduce the risk of allergies, but theorize that perhaps the results give credence to a theory that growing up with a pet trains the immune system to be less sensitive to potential triggers for allergies like asthma, eczema and hay fever. Scientist believe that perhaps youngsters may get beneficial early exposure from the germs carried into the house on the animal?s fur, which helps their immune system develop.

When I came across this study recently, my husband and I joked that our dog isn?t quite up to snuff as our son has developed both allergies and asthma. Then again, we?re in the middle of home renovations which our doctor pointed out can stir up dust and mold which could cause the allergies and asthma.

So, do the negative effects of home renovation outweigh the positive effects of having a dog? Sounds like someone should research that!