Why This Mom Encourages her Kids to Get Dirty

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Tide, a client of Influence Central.

As a parent to daughters, terms like ‘ladylike’ and ‘tomboy’ never pass my lips. Children are children, and mine are encouraged to be children. I want my girls to play outside and climb trees. To invent top-secret languages and handshakes. To compose songs, create paintings, design skyscrapers, make mud pies. To play-act as doctors, nurses, superheroes, firefighters, teachers, parents. To spend hours outside learning how to cartwheel, or dribble a soccer ball. To explore nature. To be someone’s hero (even if it’s just to a little sister).

I believe learning happens while trying new things, and I want my children to keep this in mind as they grow. The more of the world they explore, and the more things they try, the closer they will get to finding their passions in life. I don’t care about ripped jeans or grass stains.

From the time they were young, my girls loved nothing more than being active outdoors. When it rained, I could be assured my little stain-makers were jumping the biggest mud puddles they could find. Skinned knees, grass, mud, and bloodstains were constants in my laundry – which never bothered me, because I want my daughters to believe messes are often the product of being active and having fun. Not mistakes to be looked out for, the next time.

The summer before my eldest was heading 19 hours away to college, we signed up for a mud run – a super-fun obstacle course that resulted many laughs, and in the both of us being absolutely covered in mud. The kind of mud that continues to come out of your ears and fingernails for days! People often just throw their race clothes out after this event, but I knew they would prove no match for the #1 recommended* laundry detergent!

My daughter’s light-pink, long-sleeved top, absolutely covered in grass and mud stains, looked like abstract art, with its deep green streaks and intense brown spots. My dark pink cotton tee was barely recognizable under the seeped-in mud and grass.

Knowing that one dose of Tide Original delivers six times the cleaning power versus six doses of the leading value detergent had always helped me dismiss the voice of practicality inside my head. Getting those stains out with Tide proved to me it is the solution for the toughest, craziest stains my family can come up with. And my stain-makers and I can come up with some doozies!

I want my children to experience all that they can, in this life. The beautiful, the breathtaking, the adventurous, the challenging, the fun, the silly, the thought provoking, the awesome. And hey – messes happen while we’re living life. I want them to just go with it.

Tune into the Oscars on Sunday to see Tide’s newest #stainmaker advertisement or click below to see them all!

* Tide Original Scent Liquid Laundry Detergent is #1 recommended by leading washing machine manufacturers.

Natalie Rea

Mom to two amazing daughters - a feisty teen in middle school, and an ambitious young adult in university. Originally from Montréal's West Island, I now explore the beautiful trails of Hamilton, Ontario. Proud Canadian, vegetarian, dog-adopter, & bleeding-heart liberal. I smile a lot because I have Resting Bitch Face.