BC Council for Families

by Jennifer Dales
Director of Programs

If you're like me, you're always looking for a reason to explain away your less-than-perfectly-clean house.  Wouldn't it be great if we could rationalize the dust-bunnies as a strategy for protecting our kids from developing allergies? But while recent media reports about a new allergy study out of McGill university may have had you hoping for a reprieve from vacuuming, don't get too excited.

The study, published in the Journal of Allergy,  found that children of highly educated parents, those from smaller families, and those from cleaner homes are more than twice as likely to suffer from food allergies.  But the researchers caution against taking the results too literally.  Lead researcher Dr. Moshe Ben-Shoshan, an allergist at Montreal Children's Hospital commented in the National Post that, “We can’t suggest we become dirtier and expose our children to more bacteria. If the price of having fewer allergies is more infection, I don’t know any parent who would expose their child to more infection.”
 
Investigating the demographics of allergy sufferers is an interesting area of research, and certainly important given the rapid increase in severe food allergies, but reading the media coverage of this study left me feeling dismayed. Here is another example of research that I don't know what I am supposed to do with. Should I have skipped grad school? Can I let my house get even messier? Should hand washing be encouraged only half as much as usual?
 
Of course I am glad research like this is being conducted because it helps doctors and scientists figure out what is happening with allergies. I am not suggesting the research isn't important. Having been around children with allergies I know that it is. 

I think the problem is that now average parents like me have access to research findings like these which would have previously been the domain only of academics and medical professionals -- not anyone surfing the internet or flipping pages in the newspaper. In lots of ways it is good that parents have access to the latest research -- knowing more about issues of child health and development is good for our parenting. But in other ways it is starting to become crippling. Not only is there so much information out there, but the research is often broken down in an overly simplistic manner.  It becomes a never ending barrage of new things you have to concern yourself with -- research says this is good, this is bad, never do this, always do that.
 
I'm reminded of Today's Parent columnist John Hoffman's argument that what parents need isn't more information or advice, what they need is support. (For more on John's thinking on what parents really need you can listen to my podcast interview with him)   
 
Perhaps the best thing to do after reading about the latest research is not to drive yourself crazy worrying about how you have to change everything you do as a parent but rather, call a friend or head to the local Family Resource Program and talk with one of the family serving professionals. In fact, I bet most of us have a friend who would love to hear that maybe a messier house is in fact a good idea.