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Wednesday, April 04, 2007

My Sons' Orthopedic Shoes

I just came back from book club where we spent a little time talking about the book Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver and a lot of time talking about other stuff. In this book, the main character and her sister are forced to wear orthopedic shoes when they are growing up. As I was reading the book, I began to wonder what "orthopedic shoes" I will force my boys to wear. What am I hung up about that I'm forcing on my children? I think every parent has their own "orthopedic shoes" that they force their kids to wear. I'm a fairly new mom (only 3.5 years under my belt, or I should say on my hips) so I'm sure that I'll probably have a lot of hangups that I don't even realize I have yet. However, there is one in particular that comes to mind.

I'm not really quite sure how this happenened, but somewhere along the path of growing up I never learned that I was supposed to brush my teeth twice a day. I was fantastic about brushing my teeth at night. There was never such a dedicated night toothbrusher as me. In fact I even remember one time taking some Dimetap at night and having to get up to brush my teeth because I didn't want to have any cavities. The Sesame Street Episode where they had monsters eating a giant set of teeth really did a number on me.

One day when I was in 4th grade (okay, it didn't dawn on me until I was driving home from book club that I was actually 9 and not a much younger age like 6 like I may claimed I was when I told this story tonight) we got to rearrange our desks into groups of 4. Like any new seating assignment, this was very exciting. My best friend in the class and I were paired up along with two boys. We all sat down and started talking about Vaseline Intesive Care lip balm. It had just come out, and someone in my quad had a tube of it. We all wanted to try it. Anyhow, at one point in the conversation, one of the kids says that it smells like someone has really bad breath. Here's the worst part: I actually looked around for the person with the bad breath and felt sorry for her! Anyhow, at some point I chimed in that I wondered who the person was also. Yes, I already admitted that I was pathetic. Anyhow, suddenly my friends stopped talking and began exchanging looks. I still didn't get it and was eagerly looking around wondering who had bad breath. Papers were raised to cover noses. Finally my friend said "it's you!" I was mortified! I was the one who had the dogbreath! A whole conversation ensued about how I obviously didn't brush my teeth that morning.

Have you ever had a moment when everything just clicks? When all of the sudden you see a situation with absolute clarity? Right at that moment I realized that people brushed their teeth in the morning. It clicked. I then did the obvious thing and completely denied it could be me. My friend, while talking with her paper up to her nose, said that no it really was me. I then stated that I had brushed my teeth that morning, knowing even as I said it that I was lying. And then an even more horrible thought came to mind: I had never brushed my teeth in the morning! Did that mean I had had dog breath every morning that I had ever gone to school?

So here's my weird parenting confession: every since it even started to look like my older son (OS) was starting to get teeth, I have brushed his teeth twice a day. My 9 month old son who only has 2 teeth gets his teeth brushed twice a day. In fact, I would rather be late to playgroup, preschool etc. than risk my kids not having their teeth brushed. I'm sure that when they get older and look back they are going to think I'm really strange (which undoubtedly I am but that's a whole different post.) I guess when I think about it, I just don't want them to go through the embarrassment I went through. It's one thing when they're older like junior high or high school if they choose not brush their teeth (I have absolutely no idea why they would do this), but it's another when they're little and they don't really understand it. However, I'm sure my parents had no idea that I wasn't brushing my teeth in the morning so while I can make sure that my sons have clean teeth, I'm sure that they will have their own "orthopedic shoes" that they will make themselves and their kids wear. For the record, I brush my teeth at least twice a day.

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: You should brush your teeth at least twice a day, if not after each meal as well.

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posted by Alex Elliot @ 9:54 PM   5 comments
5 Comments:

  • At 4/05/2007 6:09 AM, Blogger soccer mom in denial said…

    I just love Barbara Kingsolver. And your bookgroup sounds like mine (a little talking about the book, a lot about everything else).

    For years my brother actually wore shoes with "cookies" in them to help him develop and arch. He had these ugly shoes from a store in Lexington.

     

  • At 4/05/2007 1:04 PM, Blogger Sara said…

    I had a similar experience in abotu 3rd grade when I troo learned the hard way that you were supposed to brush your teeth twice a day. My mom insisted that everytime we wore something - even if only for a second - it must then be washed. We all have our little things and it gives th ekids something to laugh about later!

     

  • At 4/05/2007 4:08 PM, Blogger Nancy said…

    I LOVE this post and am going to ponder what my sons' orthopedic shoes are/will be. And if you don't mind I'll probably blog about it, too!

     

  • At 4/06/2007 6:55 PM, Anonymous Summer said…

    I'm like your noter Sara's mother. If you wear it, it must be washed. I still remember the looks from the other playgroup moms when I complained about not having enough PJ's for my boys. We wear a new clean set every night. Apparently not everyone does this? LOL

     

  • At 4/12/2007 7:28 PM, Blogger ru said…

    school before i knew that there was television programming in the mornings. we just didn't turn it on!

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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