In the past few catalogs I have received from this company (I assume simply because I gave birth to a child), I have seen this advertisement for a "ThumbGuard".
It has made me made me laugh, made me angry, and made me cry. Until finally, it made me write.
It makes me laugh because the pure thought of someone paying for this seems so absurd. Can you really imagine having your child walking around with this on their hand? Can you imagine the child or the parent explaining it? It also makes me laugh to think that this company thought this was a good item to carry. Ok...I guess the laughing is not all that genuine.
It makes me angry for all the reasons above and because it is just rude and disrespectful to do something like strap a piece of hard plastic to a child in order to stop them from doing the one thing that brings them the most comfort. Yet, a single dentist can design this and many other doctors can place fear in parents over what could happen to a child's teeth, and parents line up to pay seventy-five whopping dollars to destroy a little piece of their child's spirit.
It makes me cry for all the reasons above, and because I can picture being that child scared, sad, tired, or in this case... humiliated to save her from an overbite. Who is she gonna go to for comfort? The parent who bought this for her? I think not.
For those who are left with the question in their minds of how to stop a thumb sucker then, I say to you:
Therapy is way more expensive than orthodontics.
I sucked my thumb until I was 12! My teeth are straight with no expensive orthodontics and I remember how glad I was at terrifying camp to have that small comfort.
ReplyDeleteOh man I so feel you on this! I love your last line:)
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