All Natural Bug Repellent

Spending time outdoors is great.  Getting eaten alive by millions of blood sucking mosquitos, not so great.  Though we don't suffer from them here where we live, I would imagine that being attacked by black flies and other vicious insects in not enjoyable either.  Unfortunately Deet is not so great either, so must of us have reservations about slathering our kids in it.

Once again, essential oils come to the rescue.  After a lot of searching and some trial and error, I have found the following blend to be effective.  I did use quite a few different oils in it, but if you don't happen to have all of them on hand, you can probably eliminate one or two of the oils without too much impact on its effectiveness. 

Thieves Foaming Hand Soap

We are big fans of the Young Living Thieves foaming hand soap in our homes.  The kids love the bubbles and yummy smell so much that they actually like washing their hands, and sometimes even do it without being reminded.

Anti-bacterial hand soaps seem like a great idea in theory, I mean, who doesn't want to get rid of germs and bacteria?  Unfortunately most anti-bacterial hand soaps rely on chemicals such as triclosan to achieve their intended effect.  According to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep data base, triclosan has a toxicity rating of 7, and the chemical has actually been banned for use in cosmetics in a number of countries.  The primary concern with triclosan is endocrine disruption and bioaccumulation, so its is not something that I want my kids putting on their skin (and possibly in their mouths) on a regular basis.