“You know I’m not one of those parents that uses sanitzer on everything. I think exposing them to germs is good for them.” The lovely blonde mom of two smiled knowingly as I rubbed sanitizer into my toddler’s hands. I imagined her children sitting in the local dumpster eating dirt and playing with garbage, but I said nothing. I could mention where she could find some old needles if she’d like a few more germs.

Who knows? Maybe she never learned about germ theory. Public schools are worse academically than we all thought if the students can’t even learn about germs there, from personal experience if nothing else.

What is with today’s moms, anyway? Cleanliness optional?

Or perhaps she’s like the mom I overheard at the lake instructing her preschooler to urinate in said lake because she was too lazy to walk him up the hill to the bathroom. It was a big hill and all, but it wasn’t so big that I’d like to swim in a cesspool.

Naturally, this is a big problem these days, as a visit to any public swimming poo, I mean pool, will bear out. How many times per day will there be some baby/toddler in the pool contaminating the water with waste? Answer: several, and those are the times we know about because the pool employees evacuate the water.

Oh, what we don’t know.

So the whole duty of motherhood, in large part, is being lost. It’s true. Mothers once so intimately knowledgeable of all the digestive functions of their children, now shun all but the most basic maintenance.

 Don’t you know that in the old days, the mothers steadfastly changed 10 to 12 diapers a day? They knew what was going on in those diapers . . . personally knew! Cloth diapering required vigilance and fortitude!

Today, disposables, pull-ups, swim diapers . . . combined with substitute mothers, have changed all that mothering of baby’s bowels. The modern world has become a wasteland of neglected baby bottoms and 3-4 year olds not-yet potty trained.

Whew! If you ever wonder if all that diapering diligence and potty patrol was worth the while . . . well, wonder no more. Cleanliness is a bountiful gift to pass along to your children, your neighbors, in the swimming pool and around the whole world.

 Dog-gone-it.