We don’t live in an “average” home, and we don’t have the “average” amount of dirt around our house. In fact, our lives are pretty extreme, and so is our grime!
With 30 Chickens, and 10 baby chicks clucking around the yard, there is a lot of opportunity to get dirty. Especially for the little dude who INSISTS on going barefoot ever since I rid our property of spiny thistles.
And I love it. I love the look of dirty kids at the end of the day, when they smell like sunshine and the grime has settled on them like a second skin. They glow, and having spent the day free-ranging (like kids should) they are blissfully happy and exhausted.
But, with free-ranging comes a few rules:
1. You check your feet before you come inside. Since we are a “shoes optional” household, AND we have 30 free-ranging chickens, things can go from bad to worse pretty quick. We have a bucket and hose by the front door for a quick and easy “foot wash” when they need to come inside for a bathroom break or cold drink!
2. Don’t Clean up mid-day. Unlike inside play, I want my kids to just go with the flow when they are free-ranging. I want them to move from one activity to another and as I sit on the porch at dusk it gives me no greater joy to see my yard littered with bikes and trucks and various other outside play items. Cleaning up after use is an inside rule, outside we play till dark (or hunger strikes) and clean up as a team as the sun sets.
3. Messy is good. Mud pies, dump truck tracks, chicken obstacles, tree climbing, forest foraging. . . all of it creates muck, mess and chaos, and that is a-ok with this mom. Use the hose to make a mud cake. . . I promise I will “gobble it up” with glee. Especially if you serve it to me with your hands. Outside is easy to clean, so feel free to get creative.
4. Wash your hands before you eat! Since our first chicken we have been hardcore on the hand washing. Every time they come inside, with extra attention paid before dinner. We want to be sure that we aren’t leaving any opportunity for a potential illness or disease to spread to the humans in our world, especially since we are dominated by fowl almost 5 to 1!
Our little dude can just barely reach the sink to wash his hands and he always has trouble getting a GOOD amount of soap to come out and lather up his hands!
As soon as I brought the Lysol® No-Touch system out of the box he was all over it. First of all, it’s a MACHINE, and machines are exciting (no matter what they do) to little 4 year olds!
And it is REACTIVE! All he needed to do was slide his little hand under the spout and the “magic eye” could tell he was there!
And it smells delicious. The antibacterial soaps come in a variety of scents and are enriched with moisturizing ingredients, which is perfect since the kids are washing their hands ALOT! This system is perfect for any bathroom or kitchen.
5. The outdoors is ALWAYS open!
We want to do everything we can to have our kids free-range outside, but still find ways to balance out the mess. By encouraging them rain or shine and providing them with easy options for keeping clean and bacteria free, EVEN after rolling around with 30 chickens, we find our kids are happy to get out and play every chance they get.
My only thing is trying to see if Lysol® can make a “full sized” No-touch system that we can set up by the back door. Then the kids can just walk through it and be “decontaminated” as they enter the house. . . Wouldn’t that be nice!
Check out the Lysol® No-Touch™ Antibacterial Soap System today with this FREE mail in rebate offer, AND for a limited time only, you can save $1 off any one Lysol® Hand Soap (Foam Refill, Lysol® No-Touch™ Refill, and Antibacterial Hand Soap) via the links. So check it out and head to your local grocer.
And this summer, get outside with the kids and encourage them to free-range, explore and get dirty!
This post was brought to you by Lysol® via SheBlogs. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Lysol.