I grew up in the small town of Ozark, in a neighborhood full of kids. I spent endless hours (or at least until the street lights came on) exploring the woods nearby with my best friend Christy Locke. When we visited family in southeast Arkansas, I played with my cousins in the bayou alongside my grandparents’ house, never giving a thought to the mud, snakes and leeches that lived there. There wasn’t antibacterial soap or hand sanitizer to apply before we grabbed a snack, and neither our parents nor we gave it a second thought.

Fast-forward to 2003 when I had my first child. The rise of hand sanitizers coupled with antibacterial soap created a much different culture. Fewer kids played outside, and many of my friends with kids seemed stressed about keeping their kids clean. Antibacterial products and a sterile environment became equated with healthy kids, when, in fact, the exact opposite may provide the true answer to healthy children.

Due to some influential mentors during college, I ended up with an amazing career as a biologist, and I am always learning as our understanding continues to grow. One subject that has fascinated me the past several years is the study of the human microbiome.

Simply put, the human microbiome encompasses all the microbes that call the human body home, both on the inside and outside. In fact, some estimates indicate we may have as many as 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells. We are being forced to rethink our phobia of bacteria, acknowledging that many of these organisms are vital to our health, with some producing essential vitamins and others helping us fight disease. (Check out the Human Microbiome Project for more information.)

How do we maintain and develop a healthy microbiome? Interaction with nature may be a critical avenue for children not only to create a healthy microbiome, but because it also presents the immune system with novel challenges that strengthen the immune response going forward. It turns out eating food fresh from the garden, taking a bite of that mud pie, playing in the streams or simply “getting dirty” is actually a good thing. Our obsession with being clean may partly explain the rise in asthma, allergies and disease in our children.

I have gotten many odd looks over the years for allowing my kids the freedom to get dirty, but we have been lucky to raise our kids in The Natural State, where opportunities abound. If we aren’t at one of the kids’ sporting events, we take the opportunity to be outside, whether in the backyard, hiking, camping or doing field research.

My husband and I both study fish, so we are often out in streams in the summers, and our children help sample. When their friends come along, they are sometimes a little timid, but usually get in the swing of the day quickly.

So let your kids get dirty this summer. If you are unsure of where to start, here are some ideas:

  • Buy a magnifying glass and let the kids look for bugs in the backyard.
  • Take a day hike and explore.
  • Join a farm share or buy locally grown foods.
  • Start a small garden and let the kids help plant and harvest.

Ginny Adams, Ph.D., is the associate dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Central Arkansas. She is an associate professor of biology and coordinator of the Environmental Science Program and her husband, Reid also teaches at UCA. The Adams family, which includes sons David, 14, and Cade, 11, enjoys spending time outdoors in The Natural State.