EVERYTHING
FOR YOUR FAMILY
Mother Knows Best
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As predictable a right of passage as the "mission project" is for your fourth-grader, or the algebra your eighth-grader will be introduced to, is the likelihood that he will need braces. Just about the time you shop for sugar cubes to use as bricks for mission walls (and good luck finding them - sugar cubes are a thing of the past) or you struggle to explain how the heck 2 letters, x and y, can equal a number, comes orthodontics. Having done the braces thing with my first child, and still bound as tightly as the wires in their mouths to our orthodontist with the second, I can say with some authority that oral hardware is truly a metaphor for the parent-child relationship. Just as your preteen starts wanting to exert his independence, it's time to tighten your grip. As he begins to rebel, it's up to you to reel him back in. Your goal, after all, is to keep him in line and on a straight path. And so it is with his teeth. Like childhood, it's been a free and easy ride until now. A separation between my oldest son's two front teeth was endearing when he was 8. Even the shark-like set of choppers my youngest son sported was kind of cute. Up to a point. As early adolescence arrives, you begin to realize that adulthood isn't far behind. It's time to tighten up the ship, so to speak, and give them the best chance for success. With society's emphasis on looks (i.e. TV shows about extreme makeovers), the least we can do is to give them straight teeth. And so we welcome the orthodontist to the family. First come the spacers and all the trips back to the office when they fall out. Then the big dogs, the braces themselves, followed by a week of chicken broth and Jell-O because chewing anything cuts the cheeks until they get used to hugging chunks of metal all day. Then come months and months, maybe even years, of visits to Uncle Ortho to have wires tightened. I hate to admit it, but my sons see the orthodontist more than their cousins. While the cost for our two children ran about $7,000 (hey, there's nothing wrong with community college), the money wasn't the biggest commitment. It was the vigilance required as parents to do our part to ensure straight teeth. "Did you wear your retainer last night?" How many times have I asked that question? Answer: As many times as what followed: "Why not!" If we grown-ups were as committed to following through on other aspects of parenting as we are to our investment in our children's braces, our kids would all be as perfect as their teeth. Kimberly A. Porrazzo is a senior writer for Churm Publishing, Inc. She can be reached at: kimberlyporrazzo@cox.net. |
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