To think that rolling in horse poo is not an acceptable thing to let your 4 year old do?

[IAmTheCookieMonster]

Some family friends let their 4 year old roll in HORSE POO because "he was having sooo much fun"!!!!!

They then didn't have a wash before collecting my 9 month DN from MIL in their car to drop back at SIL. They cuddled DN and handled her dummy and bottle.

MIL thought they were smelly but had no idea what the smell was or she would never have let them take DN.

AIBU to think this is just wrong!

Each to their own I guess. hobbies can be good for the soul.

Better than fox poo, I suppose.

Seriously? How weird. I am a farmer's daughter and wouldn't let my LO do that. but horses for courses (ahem).

However... I don't mean to alarm you but I think your sil should be aware that while most worms are species specific you can catch tapeworm from a horse. If the family friends got horse shit on them, then cuddled DN, she needs to keep a close eye on DN's poo.

GloriaSmut - my ds1 did roll in fox poo!. We were at my dsis's house for their housewarming party - she and dbil don't have children, and he is almost phobic about small children so it was interesting taking my three dses there - they were about 5, 3 and 1 at the time, if I remember correctly.

Dbil got increasingly wound up all day, as ds1 and ds2 ran in and out of the garden, sometimes banging the door, sometimes not shutting it properly, sometimes not remembering to take off their shoes; and then ds1 decided to do forward rolls on the lawn and rolled head first in fox poo. I thought dbil was going to expire on the spot! [bgrin]

Ferret - we would say each to their own if they hadn't involved DN in it!

Kenobi - we didn't know that :-( How can you tell if she gets it?

It's pretty rare I assure you - for a start the horse has to have it, then it has to be in the bit of poo etc etc etc so please don't get too worried. The first thing to do is find out if the horse is regularly wormed, if so DN will be fine.

But it IS worth keeping an eye out for stomach pains and poss segments in her poo? Might need to check that, I'm not sure. It's very easily treated, I think... you just take tablets. I was wormed loads of times as a child, sometimes just for the hell of it as far as I can tell.

Your dsil sounds ever so much like mine, StayingDaviidTennantsGirl! Except that she is allergic to dogs as well as small children and the Christmas before last it was the dog who managed to find a truly ploptastic pile of fox poo at the side of their manicured, suburban close. He then rolled luxuriantly in it and trotted back to the house where dsis put us both outside on the patio with a bucket of water for a very long time.

But no, I wouldn't willingly encourage the rolling in any sort of shit - be it fox, horse, sheep or duck. All of it contains germy STUFF, some of which is positively dangerous.

Are your friends slightly batty? Or just horrendously naive? Only I do have a friend whose determination not to let her little children be inhibited can involve some rather unecessary messes...

dd1 can beat that. at a friends' house (a lovely friend but the kind who - possibly quite rightly - bathes children everyday, changes towels everyday, carries hand sterliser in her handbag, cleans her fridge twice a week, washes vegetables before peeling them etc etc) dd2 picked up a lump of horse poo from the base of a very elegant rose tree and....popped it in her mouth.

tbh it was worth it for the look on my friends' face.

sorry...can;t help myself...must correct apostrophe abuse: friend's

I live in horse poo land, and all of the local kids would be in major trouble for touching it... so yes, I think they're bonkers! Although not much to be done about walking in it.

I would be absolutely furious if that was my baby being handled like that - it's so irresponsible. Just because it's possible to worry too much and be too hygienic, that doesn't mean that pathogens in poo are suddenly fluffy and lovely and something to positively look for contact with.

I agree with you, straightoutofthebottomdrawer - though I am liking the idea of cute, cuddly pathogens too - perhaps a new product for the Build-A-Bear Factory? [bgrin]

Gloria - our lab has done that too - dh has a lovely picture of her as his desktop at the moment - she is flat on her back, rolling luxuriantly in fox poo - too far away from him for him to stop her!! She got shampooed with ketchup when they got home.

My DD went to a 'pony party' on sat-riding, grooming etc. They were given a baby wipe to clean their hands with, and then given birthday tea in a portacabin(which did have running water). Picked her up, happy days me thinks, lovely idea-DH and I actually had babysitter and went out that evening-first time in6months-phone goes @9.30-DD has sprayed bedroom with vomit,can u come home!!! Grrrrr! Pesky pony poo!

When I ws mucking out I used to stick my arm as far as it would go into the muckpile. Lovely and warm!

I probably didn't clean my hands particularly well either.

Gleek - that is dreadful. If they weren't going to make the kids wash their hands (which they should have done) then they should have got them all to use antibac hand gel at the very least. I hope your dd feels better now.

YABU you cant nag other people about their hygiene levels

horse shit didnt kill steptoe

As my MN name, says. My DD is a muddy angel, shes 9 next week(shes been like this since she was 18 mths.) and loves to go in the fields at the back and in the ford, fishing with her jam jar for minnows, skaters etc..
She's only happy when she's covered head to toe.
When she gets in the first thing she does is strip & gets into the shower.
I wouldn't let her roll in anything willingly.
I think they should of changed the Dc after rolling in poo & wash him down with baby wipes & anti bac.
Esp. if they were going to pick up a LO.
YANBU

YANBU
I have taken DD to the stables since she was a baby. I would never let her roll in horse poo. She washes her hands after being at the stables and wellies taken off before going in house.
Horse poo though is one of the least if not least germy poo. Far, far less dangerous than dog or fox. Old guy that takes some of ours away for his garden handles it with an ungloved hand. Then eats his sandwiches. He is ancient [bsmile]

SDTG
I find that the amount of mess that the DC make is in direct proportion to the level of fussiness of the people we are visiting.

your friends were BU for not washing and being pongy before picking up someone elses child, but not really BU for letting their child roll in horse poo. Both my kids crawled around on the floor at the stables, drank water from the hosepipe from 1 year, and DD's favourite snack was grass pellets and sugar beet gleaned from the horses feed bowl every time I turned my back. I also used to park them on a plastic bag on top of the muck in the wheelbarrow to take it to the muck heap.
I did have basic hygeine standards like washing hands (under the hosepipe) before eating, and would wash my hands before feeding them as babies, but other than that, we all just got on with it. Both my children are abundantly healthy despite my apparently cavalier attitude to cleanliness.

Are they the sort of parents who can never actually use the word "No" to their DCs? That winds me right up - "little Jimmy insists on wearing shorts and a T shirt to school and it's minus 10 but what can I do?" You can say no, you nutter.

Gleekfreak, surely your DD's vomiting episode was more to do with too much cake, rather than pony poo.........

Anyway - to the OP, no I wouldn't let my children roll in horse poo, because it reeks. But not really for any other reason.

Berocca-they only got to blow out the candles-birthday girl's mummy took whole cake home with her,intact! So, no think was pony poo!