Dirt Is Good
Dirt Washes Off, But Learning Sticks!
脏东西能洗掉，但知识是日积月累的。
作者/ Edward Gawne
Dirt is good 脏才是好
When I first came to China, I worked in market research for China’s large brands, looking at how well their advertising worked in the faint hope I might be able to build ‘shareholder value’. Good times. One of our largest clients, P&G, devised a global campaign called ‘Dirt is good’. The ads would show children making a mess outside, having a great time, and then mum would clean their clothes with Persil washing powder. Messy play is an important part of growing up and being creative. The campaign was a big hit, and was rolled out globally.
当我第一次来到中国时，我的工作是为大品牌做市场调研，看他们的广告在市场上反响如何。我们最大的客户之一，宝洁，策划了一个叫“脏才是好”的全球性广告活动。广告里的孩子们在脏兮兮的乱玩，玩得很开心，之后妈妈会用洗衣粉洗干净他们的衣服。广告中最重要的信息是：脏乱的游戏是成长和创造力的重要组成部分。这条广告在当时轰动一时，并在全球范围内播出。
Except in China. 除了中国
The concept was tested here, and fell flat on its face. Bemused middle class families recoiled in disgust at images of Children rolling around in the dirt. Dirt is a symbol of poverty, being a field worker and generally backwards. It is the diametric opposite of high-rise living, owning a car, going on foreign holidays, getting good marks in school, earning money and buying branded handbags. Moreover, the concept of unfocused play is at best aspirational and at worst a waste of time in a land where a child’s purpose is to read books and pass exams.
这条广告的概念在中国做了测试，然后以失败告终。大部分的中国家庭接受不了孩子们在土里打滚的画面。因为脏兮兮的样子更多代表的是农民，农民是来自落后贫困地区的象征。这与白领生活、有车有房、出国度假、 挣钱和有着光鲜的生活则截然相反。在中国，读书是为了考大学，找到工作，出人头地，而漫无目的的玩耍无疑只是在浪费孩子们的时间。
The author with his big brother, going for a dip 30 years ago30年前，和我哥一起去游泳
What IS dirt “脏”意味着什么
It is now time my wife and I assert our own values in how we bring up our daughter Victoria. If you ignore the cynical profiteering behind the P&G campaign, I full-throatedly agree with the message. My brother and I spent our boyhood summers swimming in rivers of varying clarity, poking cowpats with sticks, rolling around in hay barns and covered in mud on a rugby pitch. Dogs, their hair, muddy pawprints and slobber were everywhere. Here Selina and I are largely in agreement – having herself spent her childhood outside running around outside in the village where she grew up. This seems to be common for many people I’ve met in China – many people over the age of 30 grew up playing in a village, before moving to the city. Most did not take this attitude with them though, and allow their children little unsupervised, outdoor play. Enjoying childhood has somehow slipped through the cracks between the generations.
现在，尤其是在我们的女儿维多利亚出生后，我终于可以在教育和抚养她长大的过程中坚持我们自己的价值观了。小时候，我经常和我哥哥，跳进野外的河里游泳，用棍子戳牛屎，在干草垛里打滚，在橄榄球场上沾满泥。因为家里养狗，每天在我们身上都会沾满了狗狗的口水，狗毛，和它们泥泞的爪子印。对于“脏”这个问题，我和我的妻子Selina的想法是一致的 – “咱们的孩子不怕脏”。虽然很多80后在他们随着父母搬到城市之前也是在农村成长。然而，当这批人也有了自己的孩子的时候，绝大多数却不允许他们的孩子在没有监督的情况下在户外玩耍，更不允许孩子身上弄的脏脏的。童年的快乐渐渐从下一代的孩子中溜走了。
Another more modern concern is that ‘dirty’ means bacteria = sick. My observation is that I wasn’t endlessly hospitalised as a child from contracting serious bugs. Neither were previous generations of Chinese children playing in the village. This idea seems to me a storm in a tea cup cooked up by hand-sanitiser companies. Anything which threatens to kill 99.9% of bacteria does not belong in a family home, but in a hospital. Soap and warm water will do perfectly fine. Moreover, children who play outside and in particular are exposed to animals at a young age seem less likely to develop allergies. (Schujis et al. 2015, Science) This hygiene hypothesis states that the idea of keeping children in metaphorically and literally sterile environments is stunting their immune system and creating a generation of allergy sufferers.
另一个更“现代”的担忧是脏意味着细菌，细菌就等于生病。但我和我哥哥在小时候并没有因为“脏”，传染细菌而三天两头的往医院跑。前几代的中国孩子也并没有因为在村子的田里脏兮兮的玩耍而生病住院。在我看来，任何可能杀死99.9%细菌的洗手液不应该属于家庭，而属于医院，这只是广告商夸大销售产品的一种手段而已。肥皂和温水就很管用。此外，在户外玩耍的儿童，特别是在幼年时接触过动物的儿童，则不容易成为敏症体质。（Schujis， 2015年科学杂志）这种假设指出，把儿童置于隐喻性和字面意义上的无菌环境中的想法会阻碍发展他们的免疫系统，并形成过敏体质。
So here’s our response… Victoria gets about 3 hours a day playing on the floor in her bedroom, on the floor of our hotel bar, restaurant, garden and lawn. Its nice when we have guests with toddlers, because our lush green lawn is there for them to play on, and Victoria is more than happy to share. She comes out with mum & dad on our trips around Wuyuan – she’s been swimming (more sploshing) in rivers, bike rides through the rice fields and hikes through the woods. She’s a big fan of cuddling animals – the cat doesn’t feel the same way. She got a shock from the first big wet face lick she got from a Labrador, but now enjoys climbing over anything soft and furry she can find. She’s a messy eater – we generally put food in her bowl and let her have at it. I’ve had to wash pumpkin out of her hair a fair few times。
所以维多利亚每天大约有3个小时在各种地方肆意玩耍：包括卧室，我们民宿的酒吧、餐厅、花园，草坪上还有村里。当我们有客人带着刚学会走路的孩子来这度假时，都会觉得我们很是幸福，因为我们这有茂密草坪供孩子们玩耍，广阔的自然与孩子们分享。我们几乎每天都会抽时间带着她骑自行车穿梭在金黄的田野里，带她下河游泳，去森林徒步。她也非常喜欢小动物，我们民宿有一只小猫，她喜欢摸摸它的尾巴；当她三个月的时候第一次回英国见家里的狗狗，也第一次被拉布拉多舔湿了小脸，吓了一跳，但现在她喜欢爬到任何她能找到的柔软毛茸茸的地方。她吃饭吃得很脏乱，我们会把食物放在她的宝宝椅上让她吃。她经常会把沾满饭的手往头上蹭 。
No! Dirty! 不行！太脏
Its also important to recognise that we are all shaped by our experiences. I’ve never lived through grinding, starving poverty like too many people in China have. I’ve also enjoyed the benefits of a rigorous Science-heavy education which does not yet exist in China (hot water anyone…?). We are blessed not to live in a ‘concrete-box-in-the-sky’ apartment, which typifies Chinese cities and have little to no opportunity for outdoor play. Most importantly, its’ not for me to judge other people in how they raise their own children – but I will be defensive about how I raise my own if I’m told off for ‘letting the baby get dirty’.
我们的一生都是由自己的经历所塑造的。对我来说，我没有经历过大多中国老一代经历过磨难，饥饿和贫穷。我很幸运，在英国每个孩子都能受到科学教育， 更幸运的是没有住在中国城市典型的“空中混凝土盒子”的公寓楼里，几乎没有户外玩耍的机会。当然我并没有资格去评判别人如何抚养自己的孩子，但如果有人因为‘让孩子变脏’而责骂我时，我会为自己如何抚养孩子而自卫。
I hope this means that when she’s older we can swim in the ocean, climb mountains, and enjoy the great outdoors, together, as a family – all things I see far too little of in China. For now, I also want her to learn independence and creativity without someone always being over her shoulder saying ‘No! Dirty…’ In the next year or two, I expect her to be running around in the village chasing bugs and climbing trees. We have until now deliberately shielded her from TV’s, mobiles and computers which we intend to continue. Staying inside is not an option!
我希望等维多利亚长大了，我们可以带她去海里游泳，去爬山，和家人一起享受户外的美好时光。我也希望她学会独立和创造力，不希望总有人在她背后说“不行！好脏！“我希望她能在村子里到处跑，追虫子，爬树。而不是过早的接触电视、手机和电脑 。总之，不能宅在家里！
A childhood leason 儿时一课
Finally, I remember a rugby training session from when I was 8. The teacher lined us all up and looked at our knees. If we had clean knees, it meant we weren’t training properly and didn’t make the team. There’s as good lesson there for childhood in general – if their knees are clean, then you’re doing something wrong!
最后，我还记得8岁时的橄榄球训练课。老师把我们排成一行，来检查我们的膝盖。如果我们膝盖干净，那就意味着我们没有好好训练，不让归队。对我来说，这童年给我上的一课：如果膝盖是干净的，那你就错了！
关于“洋娃记”
比起生娃，如何养娃，育娃才是更重要的。虽然婉俪是我们的第一个宝宝，但身边无论是大宝还是小宝的家长们都对我和爱德华这对新手爸妈产生了无比的兴趣，并建议我们把带娃经验分享给大家，看看中西文化在对培养和教育孩子上有什么区别，如何取长补短。
我们虽然不是医生，但我们会在群里交流各种经验，以及大家遇到的各类问题，让更多新手爸妈少走弯路，得到更好的咨询和支持！
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