"What do voluntary mean?"
That's my favorite quote from a football player, ever. In this case it was the response of former Dallas Cowboy starting running back Troy Hambrick who was being questioned by reporters about missing the "voluntary" off season work outs.
I think my son felt the same way last week when I took him to get his braces put on. The night before hand he asked me why he needed to do it and if it couldn't in fact be avoided. To his credit he did about all he could to not need them. He didn't suck his thumb. He didn't take a pacifier. As it turns out it didn't matter he needed them any way. There's a life lesson in there somewhere, but as a parent I'm not allowed to see it. I told him that later on he'll be really glad that he did it and that if it weren't important his mom and I wouldn't be investing the money into it that we are.
My boy persisted and asked what the medical ramifications would be if he didn't get the braces. So I had to admit to my son that this was purely cosmetic and that he faced no life threatening consequences. At this point he said that he was fine with his teeth the way that they were and was already happy with how he was. "Alright son", I said "Here's the deal. We're shallow, but other people are too. So this is being done in the effort that you will one day be able to get a date or win over the person at the job interview with your nice smile." So now I feel like I did the right thing by getting the braces and also feel guilty that I'm contributing to making my son self conscious.
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11 comments:
are braces considered bling yet?
Absolutely not Gyuss!
I remember in school we split into two different main groups, those that had braces and those that did not. Those of us that did not then crowned ourselves rulers and proceeded to weed out the braced ones until their dental problem ridden genes were eliminated from our society. Man those were good times...Good times...
I'm shallow too. I see nothing wrong with what you told him.
I had the full on UHF antenna head gear, but never braces.
You would have been the first to go Gyuss...
I wanted to tell him that I am going to live vicariously through him for the rest of his life and I wanted to give my vicarious life the best chance possible.
Mist-I appreciate your shallowness. You wear it well.
Have you pointed out to Devas that since you never needed braces, this hideous deformity must be passed down from her side of the family?
I think you should.
When the kitchen knives are within her reach.
You're a bad person Gyuss.
I'm not dentist but I heard that actually, not knowing the long term dental drift of your son's teeth, there is a chance that (if gone "un-braced") he could suffer from pain associated with his teeth being so far out of whack that it cuts into his gums or something. Of course he doesn't have that problem now but there is no way of knowing if he could have that problem in the future so you could argue that while largely cosmetic, you are also taking some preventative medical measures! Hope that helps you feel better.
Dude, that is totally a myth put in place by the Dentists of the world to scare you into coming and getting braces. You are such a sucker CyberD...
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