I have to admit, I'm a sucker for anything that says, "kills 99.99% of germs on contact."

To gel or not to gel? That is the question.

The antibacterial gel marketers have done a great job of planting the sanitizer seed in our brains. It's everywhere. Anytime you want to check out of any store, there's always that little spray bottle in the front display that screams "Yo girlfriend, stay germ free and put me in your purse!" I must have 20 of those.

I know why I'm a germ-a-phobe. I grew up in a household where you always had to have clean hands. There were absolutely no restrictions on outdoor play but the second you came into the house, you had to wash your hands with soap and water. Every bathroom in my house had a nail brush too. I used to, and still call it, scrubbing in. The reason for all of this dictatorial ablution was that my father was a dentist. He practiced in the days before surgical gloves. He was the king of scrubbing in and couldn't tolerate dirty hands. Thanks to him, I knew from a very early age that germs were passed on through your paws.

Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.

So does the gel do a better job?

One of my doctor friends who shall remain nameless, recently told me that the persistent use of hand sanitizers may inhibit proper immune system development in children because inflammatory systems require greater exposure to common germs for proper development of an effective immune system later in life.

Ah-oh...I'm not sure I want to kill all of those germs. We may be contributing to the creation of a mutant race...at least that's what my teenage son told me when he emptied his backpack and returned an used bottle of gel that he carried with him all last year.

"You're the biggest germ-a-phobe, Mom." he said.

Who taught my kids to tell it like it is?