Sunday, October 9, 2005

The band-aid question

I mentioned a couple of entries ago about how I had Band-Aids in my purse, "first aid AND entertainment." 

Tilly is interested in how they can be entertainment, so here I am, sharing trade secrets.

They say that "necessity is the mother of invention."  No, I think it's "desperation-at-having-to-keep-the-wailing-child-quiet is the mother of invention." 

It's not just Band-Aids that you can use...I've used straws; those twisty green ties in the produce section (they make good little twisty-men); and pieces of paper (airplanes, footballs), to name a few.

Did you know, that the book, "Little Blue and Little Yellow," came about because the author was trying to entertain his grandchildren on the subway or something, and resorted to pieces of tissue paper he found?  (I love this book.  :D) 

You never know what might work.  Lol, it's usually a wrapper of some kind, something you'd throw away. 

But back to the Band-Aids.

When my kids were small(er), and into the phase where they liked to unwrap things, I'd let them tear open the little packages.  Then I'd let them peel off the sticky paper, and play with that.  This is even more fun if there is a character on them, and they're not just flesh-colored.

You can make an impromptu 'paper chain' out of them.

You can let the little one cover boo-boos, real or imagined.  (Who hasn't had a child point to a spot, claiming it's a huge boo-boo, only to see a flawless expanse of baby skin?) 

You can fold the sticky sides over, and make a little rectangular 'flying carpet.'

I used one once for a wayward hem.

You can wrap one around each finger, and do a little dance with your phantom fingertips.  Or you could draw faces on them once you have them on, and have a 'puppet show'. 

I've never done this, but you could use some to <ack> tape parts of your face in silly positions (piggy nose), providing an excellent example of "if you make that face again, it's gonna freeze that way."

See?  First aid, and entertainment.

If all else fails, you can bring out the big guns, the super-bribe that works every time.

For me, it is a package of Juicy Fruit chewing gum.

That stuff, is so effective, and more addicting than crack to a two year old.  <shamefacedly, I admit, I let her chew gum at that age, but I blame her brothers for showing her the way> 

Really.  She has been known to use a footstool, climb on the counter, open the cabinet, reach for my stash that's hidden in a coffee mug on the topmost shelf of said cabinet, replace the mug, and close the cabinet door (are you hearing the 'Mission: Impossible' theme yet?) to get to it.

And at 25 cents a pop, a bargain.  Of course, it's conveniently located at eye-level to the shopping cart on our way out of the store.  Who can refuse the wide-eyed wild chant of a toddler "gum, Mommy, gum" as you are wrestling the cart past the endcap full of "I don't think so" items, while you are just trying to finish and go pick up the other kids?

I now look at Juicy Fruit as some kind of dangerous gateway drug that feeds my children's addiction to all things sweet.

And my addiction to a few minutes of peace.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Grandma used juicy fruit with me also i will always remember that gum from her:)

Deb

Anonymous said...

Very clever uses for the stuff in the bottom of a mother's purse!  I may try it the next time I have to stand in the line at the DMV.  This entry made me smile.  

Donna
http://journals.aol.com/dbp2000/DustBunnyProtector/

Anonymous said...

For my daughter, it was any writing implement and paper. She drew a lot on paper placemats, napkins, old envelopes, things like that. I always carried extra pens, pencils, and crayons. She could quietly draw for a very long time. As she got older, we played "hangman" or something like that. But, it's not so hard with just one :)

xoxo

Anonymous said...

Take it from me, gum and my boys do not mix! I learned this the hard way. LOL..

I can't keep bandaids in this house. My kids use them for all kinds of things. Once, one of them had on a pair of the oldest one's socks. They kept falling down his leg. So he just tried to keep them up by taping 20 bandaids around the top of them. LMAO...

My boys never cease to amaze me with what they come up with.

***Monica

Anonymous said...

I remember my daughter waking up one late night with an earache....what to do at 2 am when your child is wailing?  After giving appropriate treatment ( tylenol, hot rag on ear yadda yadda) nothing seemed to work to calm her down enough to get back to sleep till morning when we could go to the doctor.  I finally reached for a band aid and taped it over her ear!  Magic....she instantly felt better and went back to sleep....Band aids possess some magic healing quality I tell you!!  As I say....Whatever it takes!  And I love JUICY FRUIT---chewing it, lovin it, can't get enough of it....Juicy Fruit.....Juicy Fruit GUuuummmm......
Tammy

Anonymous said...

Okay, you've convinced me!

My brain has obviously been in sleep mode for some time because I just realised that I should have known the answer to the bandaid/entertainment thing myself On reflection. it's clear my children find the cartoon ones greatly fascinating and amusing. So much so that now I have to make sure that I buy the plainest most functional looking bandaids I can find; otherwise within 2 minutes they are all over the bathroom floor (each one opened, folded, chewed and spat out) -kids love 'em! I must say the puppet idea is great - but first, I need to get myself a bag to put them in (too disorganised for that sort of efficiency! lol)

Tilly xx
http://journals.aol.co.uk/tillysweetchops/Adventuresofadesperatelyfathouse/

Anonymous said...

You are so very creative.... who knew all the uses for bandaid's?! : )
Juicy fruit is the gum of choice for my kids.... it used to be mine, too... but I can't quite get used to that sugar shock all at once anymore!  
Trace~