Everyone has sat next to that one mother in a restaurant or on an airplane, the one that takes an entire package of Clorox wipes to the table or tray table before she lets her child's hands near that surface. What if there were bacteria on that table? So what? My parents didn't know what Clorox wipes were when they were growing up. They're perfectly fine. They didn't catch some rare disease from eating at the table at your average fast food restaurant. Germ phobic mothers: I'm here to tell you that you are actually making your kids sicker.

People are too uptight. They are afraid of the world and everything in it. They are afraid of the same world that their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents survived in. Thing exists in the world that, yeah, it's okay to be afraid of. Terrorists, serial killers, sketch people that lurk around downtown. But I'm not talking about people who are afraid of those things; the people who are really insane are the people that are afraid of germs. They wipe down every surface their kids come in contact with and keep their children's tiny fingers away from the tables at fast food restaurants. Why? Because there could be bacteria lurking on that table!




I am 15 years old, and I have never had a flu shot. I also have never had the flu (knock on wood). I get colds, sometimes. I get a cough every once in a while but not often. My mother does not wipe down every surface I touch or make me wash my hands every 30 minutes. She let my tiny kid hands touch fast food restaurant's counters, touch the tray tables on airplanes, and even, gasp, the door to a public restroom! I am fine. What these germ phobic mothers are doing is preventing their kid's immune system from exposure to all these types of bacteria in the world. What happens when they touch an escalator rail? Are they going to follow around their kids with a Clorox wipe, constantly wiping down every surface possible? What happens when they go to school? Are they going to require teachers to wash all kindergarten tables down every 20 minutes? What happens if their kid plays in a sandbox, and then puts their fingers in their mouth before germ phobic mother comes to the rescue with her handy Clorox wipes? Germs are a part of our life, and there is no possible way to prevent that! But try telling an over-protective mother with her weapon of choice, Clorox wipes, ready to kill bacteria.




The world can be a dirty place, but 99% of bacteria are not harmful to humans. Is it really necessary to spend thousands of dollars a year on hand wipes just to account for the 1% that may or may not be on that table your kid is about to touch? Besides, Clorox wipes only kill 99% of bacteria anyways, right? Getting sick happens; we cannot prevent it. Eventually these kids are going to get the bacteria in their systems and get sick. The less they exposure they have had to these bacteria, the more likely they will to get sick from it. So mothers, now do you feel better about selfishly making your own child sicker? Thought so.