Guilt Reducer

It’s no secret that English people are not known for the best teeth and of course, I grew up in England...

(Slight sidenote:  When Mike and I were newlyweds, we met up for dinner with a group of friends he went to high school with.  One of the girls upon meeting me, had the audacity to say, “You have pretty good teeth for being from England.”  I thought her comment rather rude and didn’t excuse it even if  her husband was in dental school and she probably had a heightened awareness of teeth or because her name was GG (What kind of name is that anyway?! Of course, not that I'm holding a grudge or anything...)

Though I strongly enforce teeth brushing in the morning and occasionally ask at night, I have never been good at getting my children to floss.  Every six months at our routine dentist visit the sweet hygienist reminds me of the importance of having my children floss daily.  She tells me about her little toddler whose teeth she brushes and flosses twice a day.  (I am always tempted to politely remind her that I have FIVE sets of teeth PLUS my own to keep track off, so brushing once a day is sometimes all that gets done.  But I refrain.)

Without fail, I leave the dentist office riddled with guilt about the absence seldom flossing done at our house.

Until recently....
While perusing the dental hygiene aisle of Walmart I found what has become one of my favorite parenting guilt reducers.

Now each night, my children lay in bed armed with a good book and a floss stick.  We are killing two birds with one stone...Flossing-check.   Reading Minutes-Check

Now that is some efficient parenting!

Although the one drawback is somehow they never make it into the garbage can and I find them scattered randomly throughout the house, and thus very frequently found in Drew’s hand/mouth.  But I consider Drew’s consumption of transferred germs (and possible pieces of food) a small price to pay for the potential of fewer cavities and far less parental guilt.

Now if I could just find a product that will reduce the guilt that comes from raising my voice too much...
Duct tape perhaps?