Do you agree with this acquaintance's thoughts on the "germ" situation?

I’d remind her there are more critters and germs inside her gut than that little cob would ever carry on the ground. Most critters and germs are our friends.

I never get sick. I eat leftover pizza that I made before bed after I wake up that has been on my floor for ten hours. I eat stuff off the floor. I only wash my hands before cooking for others. Generally, I do not wash my hands after using the bathroom.

My immune system is the guy on the left.

Children should be exposed to germs. Better to get sick when young and healthy and strong and build up that immunity so they’ll be safer when they’re older.

Dirt never hurt anyone. There can be dangerous organisms in the dirt but I don’t know a single kid who did not eat a little dirt now and then.

THAT is a vey good question! In my later years I have sometimes wondered how a baby could eat it’s own shit and not get sick. Resilient they must be!
I would be a little squeamish about what you described. I would be prone to at least put the baby and the cob on a blanket and then keep an eye on the cob to make sure it stayed on the blanket.
Also, exposing children to germs helps them to be healthy. My dad once described how so many of the white, privileged, clean kids were always sick and the black kids who played in the dirt street with the horse shit/piss stayed healthy.

Would you blame any responsible and caring mom for doing that? I know my mom and aunts will say the same thing in this situation (they love cleaning). Food isn’t for playing and corn on a cob is definitely isn’t a proper snack for a 1 year old. Will you feel responsible if their child get sick because of the food you gave her and not doing anything to take away the food despite knowing that it has been contaminated? No offense, if I were the mom I will also worry whether or not your kid has washed his hand before he handed over the corn to my 1 year old. The same thing will happen if you give me the corn with your bare hand (and if the corn isn’t wrapped with something). People’s shoes and poop could have made contact with the ground.

Call me a germaphobic if you wish, but please understand that it’s never wrong to do what you can/belief to protect yourself and your children.

I have an old area rug, 6 X 9, that I put down in front of the entrance to the RV. I asked the kids if they wanted to pull it out into the main camp area for the baby. They just laughed. There’s no keeping that kid in any one place.

Our friend’s wife was also scandalized that one of the kids kept taking her clothes off! Finally convinced the kid to at least leave her “underwear on, not that it did much good.

I wouldn’t have a fit about it. Every kid is gonna eat dirt. It’s like their job. And I suspect that kids who are overprotected wind up with long lists of rarified allergies that only the rich can afford. On the other hand, I couldn’t standby and watch a kid roll a cobb in the dirt then take a bite. I’d deprive him of the cob pretty much assured that he would get his required portion of dirt minus my participation.

I’m in the middle. I was not a mom who made people wash their hands before touching the baby or was anxious about germs, and for myself and my child, I don’t do hand sanitizers or antibacterial soap. However, I wouldn’t let a baby eat food that they were banging around in the dirt. I wouldn’t eat food that was banging around in the dirt, so I’m not going to let a baby eat it, either.

If I was responsible for a one year old at a campsite that you describe, there would be a portable playpen set up. Especially if he’s as you describe, never in one place.

My concern wouldn’t be the dirt. It would be the lake. Do you have any idea how many kids die from drowning simply from lack of supervision?

When you have a casusl situation like that with tons of kids all over the place, it’s far too easy for everyone to assume that someone else is watching the baby. Until it’s too late and they’re fishing his body out of the lake.

Nowadays it is SO EASY to buy a portable playpen which sets up in seconds. A one year old is simply way too young to understand the dangers of water. You can’t reason with them and warn them in advance. That’s why they make playpens so portable these days.

@Unofficial_Member ”Would you blame any responsible and caring mom for doing that?” What an interesting comment. Mom wasn’t around at the time. She was in the RV washing some dishes for me. I find it interesting that the first person you want to “blame” is Mom.
And why on earth isn’t corn an acceptable food for a one year old? What is wrong with using it as a chew toy? He’s teething.

@Buttonstc Why are you assuming he wasn’t supervised? And would you really expect a one year old to stay in a playpen for hours? I suppose we could have tied him to a tree, though. That’s what my gramma used to do when she was hanging wash outside.

There was no time that he wasn’t supervised.

^The way you write your question makes it sounds like you’re disagreeing with the way the parents react when they found out that their kid was being unhygienic. The corn was on the cob and a 1 year old doesn’t know how to properly consume such food. Food is also not a toy, well, you can play with food but many culture will find it disrespectful. It’s not for your to decide what acceptable chewing toy can/should be given to other people’s child without first asking the parent’s permission.

Actually, this situation is not a big problem if you, as a responsible adult, just take the contaminated corn away from the kid as soon as it happened so that he less likely to get sick.

You mentioned that you actually planned to cover the ground with carpet for the baby (which a believe is clean?) but didn’t do that since the kids had no interest to pull it over there but as a parent you actually don’t need the kids agreement to do so, you can just cover the ground with the carpet yourself for the baby as that is your authority and responsible act. Do you ask your kids if they would like to go to school? No. You just put them in school as it’s the most prudent kind of action a parent would do.

Sorry. I would not let a child simultaneously chew on something (particularly food) and bang it in the dirt. Not intentionally.

My first reaction is that this appears to be a common-use area of a public park, and you have zero control over what the previous users have done. That includes pesticides (yard foggers) and pets. With concerns about Lyme disease, Zika virus, etc., etc. it’s highly likely that the area could have been heavily and frequently sprayed with pesticide. Parasites (like ‘worms’) live in the ground and congregate where animals are likely to congregate.

I’m more like @johnpowell than I care to admit at home. But I consider letting the baby eat off the ground in a common use area of a public park akin to letting it eat off the carpet/floor of a public building or restaurant.
Ain’t gonna happen.

@Unofficial_Member your post was all kinds of rambling. You lost me on ”it sounds like you’re disagreeing with the way the parents react when they found out that their kid was being unhygienic.” How did I disagree?

He was properly consuming the corn, what little he actually ate, so obviously a one year old does know how to “properly consume such food.”

I didn’t go behind their back and give him the corn. His parents gave him the corn. I fed him baked beans and bits of deviled eggs.

You also lost me with “Do you ask your children if they want to go to school?” I can’t even figure out where that came from. My children are grown. My son and his wife are the baby’s parents. After 4 children, they’re both pretty laid back. They don’t waste their time worrying about silly things. They said the carpet wasn’t needed. I deferred to them.

Let the poor kid be. Nothing is going to hurt him from the cob.

I would ask the parents why they are letting him eat corn on the cob to begin with – it’s a complex grain and a 1-year old’s stomach may not be able to manage it.

What are you thinking could happen @elbanditoroso, besides his body just passing it on through? That’s all I ever noticed in my kid’s diapers when they ate corn. It didn’t hurt them in any way.

@Dutchess_III I was not rambling. As I said, the way you wrote how she was horrified when she saw her kid ate a contaminated corn and that she kept talking about “ctitters and germs” on the ground when no one gave it a second thought (and how do you know they didn’t give it a second thought?) when it’s completely obvious that germs are harmful implies that you find the parents reactions as unacceptable.

“he was properly consuming the corn” Yeah, right, after bangging and dipping the corn to the ground. We all know that a corn is easier and more proper to eat for a 1 year old when it’s in grain form than on the cob.

“I didn’t go behind their back and give him the corn. His parents gave him the corn” You wrote in your question that you cooked the corn yourself and noticed that your kid gave it to the 1 year old which mean you condone such act. Now you say the parents gave corn to their kid themselves?

“I can’t even figure out where that came from” This is actually relating to your carpet comment. You said that you actually intended the to cover the ground with the carpet but didn’t do that because the kid perhaps found it silly and giggled thus you decided not to cover the ground. This implies that after you saw their reaction you refused to do what’s actually prudent for the 1 year old. If they don’t want to pull the carpet to the main camp area you could easily do it yourself and you don’t need the kids agreement to do something you believe is prudent (which is what my “Do you ask your children if they want to go to school? metaphor tried to imply. We do what is prudent for children and we don’t see ask their permission or judge their reaction to do so).

You misread. The woman who was horrified was no relation. She was the wife of a friend we invited (as I specified in the details.)

The “kid” I referred to was my 28 year old son and he did give his son the corn (as I specified in the details.) I did condone it. It was fine.

This also explains the carpet comment. And they did laugh when I said it. My grandson wouldn’t stay on it so it was pointless to put it down.

I’m sorry I confused you with my use of the word “kid,” to refer to my grown children. All my kids will always be “my kids,” to me. I think most parents feel that way.

The child in question is alive and well, of course.

Never question a parent’s choices.

I don’t understand why ask a question and then argue when people answer it with their opinions, which was what was asked of them.

@jca

Because that is a typical pattern in many of her questions. Not all but certainly enough to recognize a repeating theme.

You guys…I never argued against @Unofficial_Member‘s position. He or she was completely misunderstanding the situation and the people involved. They thought I was going behind the parent’s backs, and that I was allowing small children to call the shots. That’s what happens when you don’t read the details. I was just trying to explain it to them.

Myself, I probably wouldn’t have let my child eat corn covered with dirt, even though it really wouldn’t hurt them. I wouldn’t think it that far through. My kids are more laid back than I was.

@Dutchess you also refuted what @elbanditoroso and @Buttonstc had to say.

PTL I’m chopped liver! :-)

I asked @bandit if the corn could actually hurt the baby. It was an honest question.

@button had concerns that the baby was unsupervised. He wasn’t. Not even for a second.

How is that arguing?

And I’m on my phone. It doesn’t seem to pull up people’s names when I key the @ sign.

I’m learning mobile, too, @Dutchess_III and there’s limited auto-fill.
Limited bells and whistles, generally. Naturally.

Back at my desk top…I CAN SEE!!!!!

Oh and @Buttonstc also suggested we leave the baby in the playpen. They were there for several hours, so that just isn’t realistic. They actually set up a large tent the evening before. They thought maybe he’d be OK playing in there, with room to move around. He wasn’t! There was too much going on, too many other kids for him to be happy locked up. He cried and yelled for 15 minutes until we let him out.
Someone was on top of him every minute. We were constantly doing head counts on all the other kids too.

On the way home Rick and I brainstormed on ways to create a portable swimming area designation in the lake. We’re considering stringing those foam noodles together, then fashioning some sort of net, with rocks in the bottom to hang down to the floor of the swimming area.