daughters/granddaughters

[U2here]

At the dinner table my granddaughter dropped meat, daughter picked it up and put it back on 4and halfyr old's plate.I was shocked and I guess it showed tho I didn't say anything. Daughter said they often eat things that they dropped, even outside! She proudly said that she ate gum she found on the pavement when she played out as a child 'and it did her no harm'. They have a garden that is 'used' by her cat and the three who live next door. I did not argue or give any opinion,g'daughter was at the table and a bit emotionally upset as she is in her first term at school. I have been thinking about this all night and wounder if I should tackle her in private, at all or just send her the definition of hygiene and toxocariasis. Why am I so worried when clearly daughter doesn't care.

[U2here]

Thank you all for the thoughts you have posted.
I guess it's more about the possibility of the worms that kids (and grown ups) can get from the cat poo in the garden which is laid neatly on the lawn by DD's cat AND the ones from next door. No one walks in it if they see it first but it might happen when daughter goes up the garden in the dark to shut up the chickens.

I will try to 'chill' and I really won't send anything about hygiene but it has really helped to see what others feel about this,

[Whoamireally]

I have one rule for public and one for private. The conformist part of me will not let either dd eat anything that's been on the floor in public but we adopt the 5 second rule at home when no-one is looking.

I think many mums are the same as me. If I thought I could get away with the 5 second rule in public I would I am a firm believer in a peck of dirt actually being good for you - my 3 1/2 year old hasn't had a day off sick from nursery in well over 18 months.

Oddly though my kitchen floor is most likely dirtier than most places in public, which at least get cleaned regularly - so perhaps this is all just psychological?

To bat your own question back at you OP, why are you so worried? I'm just wondering if this is actually more about your relationship with your daughter than about hygiene? It seems like there's two issues here; one is the cats shitting in the garden (no-one likes that, and toxoplasmosis is horrid) but that's completely different from just dropping a bit of meat on the floor surely?

Incidentally, if your daughter's cat has 'claimed' her garden as its own, it's unlikely that any other cats will use her garden as their toilet - don't they just dump in gardens that are 'no man's land'?

[Geocentric]

at paisley...

[Besom]

I let dd eat stuff she's dropped on the floor all the time.

And we have a cat .

[ilovesprouts]

we always say 2 second rule

[Hulababy]

Presumably the little girl plays with her toys and teddies on the floor - does she ever put them in her mouth? Is it really any different?

[paisleyleaf]

That 5/7/10 second rule.....
it's actually just about getting it to your mouth before anyone sees. - if you can do it without getting noticed it's fine.

[ProfYaffle]

Well, it's all about context isn't it? I sometimes pick up stuff the dds drop at home: chunk of sausage roll on kitchen floor = OK, pasta in tomato sauce on the carpet with fluff on it = not OK. Freshly dug carrot covered in mud = ok, sweeties dropped on the patio where the chickens poo = not ok.

Re the chewing gum, all kids get up to stuff like that when we're not looking don't they?

[shatteredmumsrus]

what a crazy thread - sureley there are worse things!!!

[diddl]

OP-is this your own daughter?

If so,how can you not know that she picked things up and ate them?

[minkulus]

sorry but LOL at Chulita's DD ! What did the other child do?!!

[WhoIsAsking]

Please don't send her a description of hygiene!

She ate gum of the floor when she was a child? presumably you were in charge of her then?!

Chill a bit, be careful because you could well damage your relationship with your DD and invevitably your DGD

[nickelbabe]

as long as your floor is relatively clean, then it's not a problem.

the picking up other people's food or gum from the pavement is disgusting.

the germs are godo for the immune system, but obviously we don't want to overdo it.

i wouldn't pick up and eat food from a floor that pets had been walking on (as they go outside and don't take their shoes off when they come back in) and the floor around our cooker is absolutely filthy (we can't reach inbetween it and it needs pulling out to clean properly) so i don't pick up that food either.

[Geocentric]

Hehehe I always thought it was 5 seconds.... I guess as long as under a minute...

[JemL]

It's not 2 or 10 - it's the 7 second rule

[Lucyellensmumma]

oh, dont be flaming the OP - shes just a caring grandma who need to get with the program re germs! I am personally dreading my DD getting pregnant because im such a bloody control freak and i know im going to have to just suck up her crazy arse ideas when she has a baby. It must be really difficult actually.

[OTTMummA]

there is no need to 'send her information about hygine' or have a word!
your dd has managed to keep HER DD alive and well i take it for over 4 yrs, so clearly she has all the info on hygine she needs!

im pretty sure she doesn't let her DD drop a sweetie on a cat turd in the garden then shoves it in her mouth, you don't really think that do you?! lol

kids do lots of gross stuff, i remember eating worms, and mud pie, licking snails etc, so really just chill out and let the little things go.

[Chulita]

2 second rule? My mum always said it was 10...seriously, she must really have been confident of our stomach strength!
I pick food up for DD if she drops it depending on how clean the floor is. If she has a biscuit and wanders about with it she ends up wiping it on stuff and eating it anyway. Bearing in mind last week she picked her nose and put it in another toddlers mouth I don't think I'm going to win trying to stop germs getting around!

[claw3]

Had to laugh at this thread, my ds has an extremely limited diet and a food phobia, but he will happily eat a malteser that has rolled underneath the settee, fluff an all!

Lighten up a bit.

[MrsWobbleTheWaitress]

Leave your poor daughter alone! It is very important that children ingest bacteria otherwise their immune systems won't develop to be strong enough to cope with big illnesses. My children eat food that's been on the floor and they're pretty much the healthiest children I know. Eating food that's fallen in mud, though, is another matter, and gum off the pavement is just gross!

But more to the point, your grandchildren are not your children, they are your daughter's children, to be brought up as she sees fit!

[Lucyellensmumma]

Seriously though, you sound like a caring grandparent - but dont please please dont "have a word" or send her information - she will resent you for it.

[Lucyellensmumma]

2 second rule! the amount of bacteria a bit of food would pick up being dropped on the floor is minimal - if this bit of food was put back in the fridge or on the side and eaten later, it might be a danger - but so long as it hasn't fallen in a turd its fine, don't worry - i have to say, i rather enjoy the look of horror on my mums face when DD drops something hands it to me and i wipe it and give it back to her.

[cory]

Well even so, she is unlikely to catch anything very nasty from her dining room floor. Just because your dd then felt riled and told a couple of unsavoury anecdotes, doesn't make the meat-eating any more dangerous.

Don't let it get in the way of your relationship. My Mum and my MIL both had problems with their MILs, who obsessed about hygiene and the dangers to babies of putting things in their mouths. Mum's and Grandma's relationship never recovered: they still distrusted each other until she died nearly 20 years later. My MIL (a very friendly person) had to move out to get away from her MIL as she felt her constant fussing and worrying was turning her (my MILs) son into a very anxious little boy.

Not suggesting you are in this super anxious category, but this seems a good time to avoid the slippery slope.