<p>Can you clarify, oldfort, whether you are talking about unusual situations (kid vomits, kid jumps in mud puddle) or just routine if-you-play-outside-you-must-strip-in-the-laundry-room situations?</p>
<p>I think the Japanese custom of removing outdoor shoes before entering a home makes such good sense, I can’t figure out why people don’t do it regularly here. We started instituting a “no street shoes” rule when we had our first crawling baby many years ago (sigh), and I’ll never go back. Besides keeping the floor much cleaner (it gets dusty but not dirty), it prevents heavy metals that are tracked in by shoes. That is probably more toxic in the long run than staph.</p>
<p>And speaking of the Japanese, they have been wearing some version of flip flops for centuries without much self inflicted damage. Then again, they don’t sit in chairs as much as we do, which is the worst thing for your skeleton.</p>
<p>Japanese geta sandals have sturdy wooden soles to elevate the wearer’s feet above the ground - they look more like platform flip-flops/clogs hybrids.</p>
<p>A quick check of Pubmed revealed that barefoot walking in certain countries is associated with certain parasitic diseases. Helminths… ewww…</p>
<p>I love wearing clogs but I have sprained my ankle twice because of the inflexible platform sole. I’m not ready to give them up yet though.</p>
<p>I thought for about 5 seconds about whether I was going to respond to “stripping down”, as this is a flip flop thread. But as we know CC is a very judgemental forum, if one doesn’t respond, it would appear I have been shamed into admitting it was wrong. CC also has a habit of taking a few words or phrase and some how making a case out of it.</p>
<p>In reading this thread, it just brought back a few instances in my mind when I “had to give my kid’s friends a change of clothes because they have made a mess of theirs.” A few that stood out were when they had rolled around in my backyard and then expected to come into my house as they were. No, it wasn’t happening. I gave them a change of clothes, they had the privacy of a bathroom to change into clean clothes. Instead of putting their dirty clothes back on them before they were picked up, I took time out from my work to clean them (I was working from home then).</p>
<p>We also got into the habit of checking our kids’ clothes and skin whenever they played outside for ticks 8-10 years ago. Maybe it would be better if I didn’t do the same for other kids, so I wouldn’t be accused of touching someone else’s kids.</p>
<p>Since so many people hold themselves up as the guardian of what’s proper… I had parents pack only PJs for their kids when they came over for asleepovers. Accidents always happened. I could put the same clothes back on them next day to make a point, but I always cleaned them because that’s something I would do for my kids. </p>
<p>Another one came to mind, 8 year old Susie started throwing up in the mindlle of night. I called the parents fearing the kid was very sick. They told me that she had anxiety of not being home, and not to worry about it. They left her at my house overnight.</p>
<p>Kids are taken care of when they come to my house. I may go overboard, and that’s why I laugh at myself sometimes. That’s all I am going to say on this matter.</p>