Now that both of my daughters are in school I am able to go food shopping all by myself. It is great. I can be in and out of the grocery store in no time flat. It is like I am a contestant on “Supermarket Sweep.” I just pick up the items off the list and I am good to go. Still there are some hiccups with that plan if I leave certain things out that I purchased at the store that day.
One item in particular that gives me the most grief is Band-Aids. I am guessing most parents go through this so I know that I am preaching to the choir on this one. Both my daughters eyed the Cinderella Band-Aid box on the bathroom sink. The box was just out of their reach, but they looked like ravenous dogs as they were lunging for bandages.
I told my daughters that the Band-Aids are only needed if you get hurt. As soon as I was done uttering those words I got bombarded by reasons why they needed to wear them.
Some of those “reasons” were the following.
“I got a paper cut today at school, I need a Band-Aid.” (No sign of a paper cut anywhere.)
“My head hurts daddy, I need a Band-Aid.” (No sign of head trauma or bleeding.)
“I have a bug bite.” (Nope.)
“I’ve got pins and needles in my foot. I need a Band-Aid.” (Bandages don’t help that.)
Finally my oldest honestly asked, “Can we each just wear one?” I wanted to make a Nelly joke, but my daughters wouldn’t have gotten it, so I moved on.
I told them that I purchased the bandages because we were running low on the ones we had at home. Bandages are used for when you are bleeding and they are not a fashion accessory. They understood my reasoning and left the issue alone. That was until I opened up the medicine cabinet to brush their teeth at night. Once they saw the Band-Aid box again I got inundated with a whole bunch of new reasons why they needed to wear one.
So to all my fellow parents out there I am giving you this piece of advice. Never let your kids know you purchased Band-Aids.