Braces

So, today I find out I’m in store for paying for $6,600 worth of braces for a kid that has pretty good looking teeth as far as I can tell.  This puts me into that whole parental guilt thing.  I usually don’t give in to that.  No rolls off my tongue with ease.  There’s no pang, no, maybe I should say yes just to put a smile on their cherubic little faces.  Guilt free, or should I say Low Guilt parenting.

The braces thing moves into a whole new realm.  The  “They need it for their health” arena.  Now, I have had an experience with a really seriously ill child.  You do whatever it is going to take to make sure they get better.  No qualms, no questions, I’ll hock the house if I have to.  Braces.  No real life saving element in braces.  Sure, the overly friendly (I say the whole office is on Prozac, and I know they can afford a fruit bowl of it) orthodontist mentions things like the long term stability of the teeth, premature wear, proper functionality of the bite and other crap I’m just not buying.  At least when I was a kid they didn’t beat around the bush.  It was, “Those teeth look horrible, and we should make them look better.”  

I noticed the other day, when Prince Charles was on Sixty Minutes, that his teeth were crooked.  It hasn’t killed him yet.  He can certainly afford $6,600 worth of braces.  But he’s not running out to protect the long term stability of his teeth.

Truth is I’ll probably do it and grumble the whole time.  It’s almost half a car, but I’ll do it.  I’ll spend the next two years yelling at a kid to brush their braces better, I can still see steak on them, and we had steak two days ago.  It’s all part of growing up, my growing up.