Fragile

These days every other person I speak to is having a baby. Don't get me wrong! I love kids. I am thrilled and ecstatic for all the new parents-to-be! I find it rather bothersome when the entire conversation revolves around fears of being new parents, and what an ordeal it is to raise kids.
Granted that I have very little (thanks to my niece), to no experience in this area, let alone give advise. I see my friends being all paranoid on their social networking timelines, posting questions and concerns, and getting hyper about their kids. I recently came across a question on over-sanitizing households to maintain highest levels of hygiene when a baby arrives. 
Over sanitizing homes, scrubbing every corner of one's bath and kitchen, and panicking at the very sight of a bug or speck of dust by their window sill seems like a completely different level of paranoia and imbalance. I have 2 words for these over protective parents – 'guys relax'. It's not the end of the world if your kids are curious about the outside world and insist on befriending mud in your backyard. Let them!

When I meet parents who have this level of anxiety, I often want to remind them about their childhood. Did your parents go through these rules and regulations of sanitizing every inch of their home? I doubt! The cities that we grew up in, the backyards we played in, were not sanitized and protected by any kind of disinfectant. We survived! 

Life is all about taking those chances, enjoying the ride, living those adventures. Childhood is just a beginning. I highly recommend parents-to-be and those who have infants to let their child enjoy the ride! Children are meant to enjoy simple pleasures of building sand castles and mud pies. You'd be robbing your child of an amazing time outdoors, should you take away these simple joys of life. 
Making mud pies and rolling down a mountain of sand, bringing home some mud clad toes and fingers only suggests your kid is enjoying every bit of his/her time! It doesn't make your child vulnerable. It often helps in boosting their immune system, thus making them less susceptible to allergies and auto-immune diseases. 
Our parents raised us right. I often believe they did everything right (well at least most things right). They let us be, and they let us appreciate life in all it's entirety. We need to raise our future youth in the very same manner...  Make them stronger – not fragile.