We have a play set in our back yard, and under it the kids have seen it as great fun to dig up the dirt. They love to sit out there and play in the dirt. And the only thing greater than playing in dirt is playing in mud. They at times, when I’m not particularly looking at some water and have a good-ol-time out there. But then they want to come into the house or come give hugs or sit on my knee. My response is typically, “Get away, don’t go in the house like that, Don’t touch me, clean up before.”
Now that isn’t always the case though. Let’s say that in the process of covering themselves with mud, one of them gets a cut. This actually happened a few years ago. Our kids, a few neighbors and the Hilty kids were all playing outside. They were all dirty from play and Abby got her finger smashed by a brick, cutting her pretty bad. She needed stitches. She came running and screaming into the house. It didn’t matter how dirty she was, we cleaned the cut, loaded her into the car and off to the hospital we went.
You see, her need was greater than any damage dirt could make.