This is an extraordinary situation for me, because it was a moaning rather than an informative blog post, but I thought I would be able to calm down when I got to the end of this post if I had the chance to write it. (I’ll report later)…
My daughter (Mary) is about 4 years old and she participates a local Crèche 5 days in a week. The nursery educates all children vey well about the importance of Dentistry.
Mary went to a local Dental Clinic with her little friends just 3 weeks ago and she was happy to bring her certificate home while pointing her mouth all evening and repeatedly said that there was ‘No Sugar’.
In the nursery, children sleep about one hour in the afternoon and they all clean their teeth before going to sleep, which in my opinion is a simple but great training idea.
I was away for a couple of days last week. Mary stayed with her grandparents who came to the nursery and escape from there. The nanny was asked if she would buy a new toothbrush or not and was given the old toothbrush that, in my father’s words “looks like she is hammering nails with it.”
In order to find a new toothbrush, the nanny took Mary to the local supermarket. Although she is only 4 years old, it is pleasure for her to choose what she wants, and that’s the thing that I’m trying to encourage her to do.
So…
There’s Mary who looks at the brightly packaged, covered with the most popular cartoon characters, facing the selection of children’s Toothbrushes.
Mary… how can I put it… she is keen on Peppa Pig too much or to be honest, she is completely obsessed with little pink characters and pink things!
So it isn’t necessary to read the next part to know that she has chosen a pink Peppa Pig toothbrush covered with a pink toothbrush case cover. Less than 15 TL left in the store by the nanny and Mary made the store very happy!
My mom called me and asked me to inform Mary about everything and she gave me some informations related to the new purchase. Firstly I questioned the price as I thought it was more expensive than adult toothbrushes. When my mom came with a plastic hygiene cover, she said she thought the price was reasonable. Noooooooooooooo!
For the next 5 minutes, I explained to my mother about the unhygienic of the cover and the necessity of disposing of the cover and keeping the toothbrush.
My mother, intelligent and seeing the anger of her potential which lied ahead , suggested that she would stop explaining to me when I got home. Excellent… This is something to look forward to. When I got back, my little darling who is my daughter greeted me and she said that she missed me. After that, she told me about the old toothbrush and the new pink Peppa Pig Toothbrush with pink cover. I knew it would be hard when she mentioned the pink cover.
We went up to the bathroom and I explained that it wouldn’t be good for our teeth if we kept the cover. I said that We’d better put the cover in the dustbin. I left the word pink out of the sentence by trying to be clever. After thinking of a 3 seconds period (it isn’t a short time to look at a heartbroken 4 years old), I had a never-ending question.
“why?”
I said that the naughty bacteria would fall under the cover and sit on your brush. I thought for a few seconds more before Mary asked “But why Mom?”
I knew I had lost this struglge. The tears I can get over but tears of Peppa Pig and the pink plastic cover, I wasn’t ready for yet!
So we left the bathroom and we sat comfortably on the bed while looking at the Peppa Pig toothbrush and pink plastic cover. Then we said that Peppa Pig was good and we loved Peppa Pig but Peppa Pig is not on the plastic cover and she agreed that. Finally, I was passing….
I said that the naughty bacteria were hiding themselves and using their favorite color pink to deceive us. While hearing these words, Mary got out of bed and looked at the pink plastic cover for a few seconds more. (while waiting to hold my breath) She said that she would wash the naughty bacteria in the bathroom. Ordinarily, I’d say it wasn’t a good idea but I accepted it on this occasion. Without tears or fear we both stood silently on the toilet and we made the pink cover indifferent.
And currently for the rant that is small but stress relieving…
In my opinion, it is very frustrating that the facts surrounding a child’s dental hygiene are pushed aside so that mass marketing fools see nothing but money from a cute character and a pink toothbrush on a child’s toothbrush.
I came back to see the shop where my mom got her toothbrush and it is very clear to see that the adult toothbrushes don’t have any covers. About 70% of the children’s toothbrushes have it. In most cases, for Boys it is blue, for girls it is Pink .
I have the chance to write, and I feel a little better at the moment. I’m sure I’II feel better when I wake up tomorrow. Maybe I can think of a training program or something that will raise awareness on this topic when I’m in a clear mind. Naughty Bacteria V’s Peppa Pig, I’m sure it will never be able to reach millions of people or fools in charge of marketing children’s toothbrushes!
Not: I will apologise If one day you discover a pink plastic toothbrush cover while sunbathing on the beach. I care about the environment, but I care more about my daughter’s oral health and I’m sure I would if I had to do it again.