Some readers were turned off that I let my 4 year old squat on the table to put nectarine slices on dryer trays. His little stinky-sweet feet were too close to the food for their comfort. My response: http://bit.ly/cuVD6p
EricS on
Brilliant! That managed to visually show the “logic” of paranoid parents. Because that is really the only way we can almost absolutely protect our children from everything (ie. harmful rays of the sun, air (pollution), germs, predators, cars, even their own parents, and many more). Because from what I gather from paranoid parents, EVERYTHING can harm our children. Everything except for things that would inconvenience the parents. Someone should market this. If shopping cart seats, fire retardant underwear can make it big, I bet they’ll make a killing with the Cleanlinol. Maybe they can even put the product on this site http://www.childsafetysuperstore.com/index.html.
EricS on
LOL Sophie, that’s hilarious. Anything to capitalize on the fears of others. What people fail to realize that these antibacterial products can actually be bad for you in the long run. They end up killing bacteria that’s actually good for you. Bacteria that fights the bacteria that’s bad for you. And ANYTHING you touch will have some sort of germ on it. Do they expect people to keep that behemoth in their bag or purse? Just wear gloves and a mask all day.
As well, there was a test done to see how much these hand sanitizer actually work. They all claim to kill 99.9% of germs. But in reality, in normal day to day activities, they were only 25-35% effective. What they don’t tell you, is that the the “99.9%” was done in a controlled environment, probably in a clean room. Sorry can’t find the video clip of a news segment I watched a while back on this one. But here are a couple of links that talk about hand sanitizers.
Oh yes! How funny. They say any joke has an element of truth to it, and it does–lots of parents really would just about tote their kids around enclosed in a bottle of ammonia etc if they could.
skiermom on
I love this line “Because when it comes to being careful you can’t be too careful!”
Math & Science Dad on
I don’t know how many of you are fans of the magicians (and skeptics) Penn & Teller, but their (Showtime) TV series “Bullsh*t!” has an episode this week devoted to vaccinations. Both men lobbied hard to do a show on this topic, and they are brilliant at exposing irrational nonsense.
Marvin Merton on
Math & Science Dad: Penn and Teller are brilliant, but they still can’t make one laugh quite as much as Mitchell & Webb…
Soap and water and a general cleaning detergent (sans anti-bacterial properties) works just fine. In flu seasons you can wash your hands more often. In a review of a daycare they found that if the kids washed their hands more and during peaks of flu and winter vomitting sickness used some hand alcohol, the frequency of children getting sick dropped by half.
But then there’s the parents being terrified of hand alcohol :(. It never ends. When the rate of illness dropped basically all parents warmed up to the idea.
Thanks – this made my day! Just this week I had an encounter with the Scottish Education Minister where I asked him to work more proactively with our health colleagues to ensure we make our children’s lives “as safe as necessary and not as safe as possible” in relation to outdoor hygiene. I wish I had this to show him at the same time.
Paul on
The funny thing about that automated soap dispenser, is they claim that there’s germs on the pump itself which spreads to your hands, that the auto dispenser keeps you from touching areas with germs. But aren’t you washing your hands anyway? Even if you touch the pump with your hands to dispense soap, your washing your hands right after anyway.
Wow, I need to come up with dumb ideas like this and make money off of it. lol
Emiky on
My favorite notes from parents “my child isn’t feeling well. Can he stay in from recess in the Verny classroom that remains so despite how many wipes we use rather than head out into the fresh air? I should probably keep him home when he’s sick, but then I look like a slacker parent”.
18 Comments
Use in tandem with idiotic immunosuppressents like this!
http://www.dettol.co.uk/no-touch-handwash-system/index.php
Some readers were turned off that I let my 4 year old squat on the table to put nectarine slices on dryer trays. His little stinky-sweet feet were too close to the food for their comfort. My response: http://bit.ly/cuVD6p
Brilliant! That managed to visually show the “logic” of paranoid parents. Because that is really the only way we can almost absolutely protect our children from everything (ie. harmful rays of the sun, air (pollution), germs, predators, cars, even their own parents, and many more). Because from what I gather from paranoid parents, EVERYTHING can harm our children. Everything except for things that would inconvenience the parents. Someone should market this. If shopping cart seats, fire retardant underwear can make it big, I bet they’ll make a killing with the Cleanlinol. Maybe they can even put the product on this site http://www.childsafetysuperstore.com/index.html.
LOL Sophie, that’s hilarious. Anything to capitalize on the fears of others. What people fail to realize that these antibacterial products can actually be bad for you in the long run. They end up killing bacteria that’s actually good for you. Bacteria that fights the bacteria that’s bad for you. And ANYTHING you touch will have some sort of germ on it. Do they expect people to keep that behemoth in their bag or purse? Just wear gloves and a mask all day.
As well, there was a test done to see how much these hand sanitizer actually work. They all claim to kill 99.9% of germs. But in reality, in normal day to day activities, they were only 25-35% effective. What they don’t tell you, is that the the “99.9%” was done in a controlled environment, probably in a clean room. Sorry can’t find the video clip of a news segment I watched a while back on this one. But here are a couple of links that talk about hand sanitizers.
http://prettysavvy.ca/hand-sanitizer-do-they-really-kill-99-9-of-germs/
http://biology.about.com/od/microbiology/a/handsanitizers.htm
Old fashion soap and water has worked for generations, and will continue to do so. But in a pinch, every now and then, I do use the sanitizers.
I do so love them.
Germophobia not only doesn’t work, but it’s probably just as dangerous for the kid’s immune system as dumping them in a vat of Cleanlinol.
Ha ha! I just came on the site to inform you of this fab video clip, and you beat me to it!
Oh yes! How funny. They say any joke has an element of truth to it, and it does–lots of parents really would just about tote their kids around enclosed in a bottle of ammonia etc if they could.
I love this line “Because when it comes to being careful you can’t be too careful!”
I don’t know how many of you are fans of the magicians (and skeptics) Penn & Teller, but their (Showtime) TV series “Bullsh*t!” has an episode this week devoted to vaccinations. Both men lobbied hard to do a show on this topic, and they are brilliant at exposing irrational nonsense.
Math & Science Dad: Penn and Teller are brilliant, but they still can’t make one laugh quite as much as Mitchell & Webb…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0
Love me some Mitchell and Webb. Those cheeky Brits!
Next to Godlinol. Oh that’s funny!
Good stuff!
Soap and water and a general cleaning detergent (sans anti-bacterial properties) works just fine. In flu seasons you can wash your hands more often. In a review of a daycare they found that if the kids washed their hands more and during peaks of flu and winter vomitting sickness used some hand alcohol, the frequency of children getting sick dropped by half.
But then there’s the parents being terrified of hand alcohol :(. It never ends. When the rate of illness dropped basically all parents warmed up to the idea.
Thanks – this made my day! Just this week I had an encounter with the Scottish Education Minister where I asked him to work more proactively with our health colleagues to ensure we make our children’s lives “as safe as necessary and not as safe as possible” in relation to outdoor hygiene. I wish I had this to show him at the same time.
The funny thing about that automated soap dispenser, is they claim that there’s germs on the pump itself which spreads to your hands, that the auto dispenser keeps you from touching areas with germs. But aren’t you washing your hands anyway? Even if you touch the pump with your hands to dispense soap, your washing your hands right after anyway.
Wow, I need to come up with dumb ideas like this and make money off of it. lol
My favorite notes from parents “my child isn’t feeling well. Can he stay in from recess in the Verny classroom that remains so despite how many wipes we use rather than head out into the fresh air? I should probably keep him home when he’s sick, but then I look like a slacker parent”.