Meet The Grants
Persil is once again partnering with New Zealand's foremost parenting experts, Ian and Mary Grant, the founders of NZ not-for-profit organisation Parents Inc. Their organisation offers practical solutions to parents through seminars, publications, and a parenting resource/educational centre called the Parenting Place.
The Grants endorse the Dirt is Good philosophy established by Persil, and agree that Every Child Has The Right to be a child. That's why they have partnered with Persil for this campaign, which reminds us all of the importance of kids learning and developing through experiential play, and to encourage parents to let their kids just be kids. Kids should spend heaps of time outside, having fun, learning, exploring, imagining ... and getting dirty. The dirt will wash off after all!
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It is our belief, and current research shows that New Zealand mums agree, that we are in grave danger of losing the wonderful opportunity of allowing our children the joy of having their childhood - the kind of childhood we remember having - in New Zealand's wonderful outdoor environment.
Children today often face extreme pressures, resulting in crammed schedules that leave them little time for unstructured and experiential play outdoors. It is so important for parents to remember to let their kids get down on the ground, crawl in the grass, jump and dance around, create with clay and paints, try new things and use their imagination. We needn't be too overly protective of our children; clothes can be washed! Kids can be bathed! Who cares if they get a little dirty?
In a complex world, where kids are exposed to many more things than we were as children (through the media, video games, and new technologies), it is more important than ever to protect our children's childhood. If children grow up too fast they may miss out on opportunities for learning through messy play.
Research has shown that children need regular outdoor, unstructured, experiential play as a way of fostering inquisitive and strong minds. Children who do not get the chance to play outside are missing a vital ingredient in their psychological makeup.
We wholeheartedly support Persil's ongoing commitment to creating opportunities for kids to be kids. We love that Persil has created a survey to find out what New Zealanders believe all kids should do before they're 10... and that Persil is helping as many kids as possible to complete the activities on the Top 10 list. We hope that you do too!
Ian and Mary Grant