Decisions, decisions

As a parent, its most likely that you’ll want the best for your kids. Probably, all the big decisions in life will be carefully weighed up to ensure the best option possible is chosen. The first big decision – which name to give them. We were very lucky in this respect that we both liked the Wee Man’s name straight off – I said ‘if it’s a boy, shall we call him ‘the Wee Man’* and the Other Half said ‘yes’. End of discussion. Bubby D’s name was equally straightforward, as both my grandmothers have the same name and I like it, so I suggested it, and again the Other Half said ‘yes’. If we have any more children, we might have a bit of a problem as that’s our name preferences exhausted!

But I digress – back to decisions. You choose whether to breast or bottlefeed, and for how long. You choose whether to use reusables, or disposables. You choose when to wean, and whether to go back to work (ok – maybe ‘choose’ is not the word – I kind of have to go back or we’ll have the house reposessed…) and then later, which school to send your little darlings off to.

Clearly, some decisions have immediate and obvious benefits. Breastfeeding for example, has widely recognised benefits both straight away, and in later life. Choosing a school with good results and reports (and getting a place there of course) is likely to lead to your child having a better educational career. But then there are other, seemingly more minor decisions, which you may not think about quite so much.

For example, my mother’s decision to get me veneers for my teeth at the age of 11.

I’ve just got back from the dentist. I hate dentists, not this specific dentist (he was actually quite nice) but dentists in general just because they tend to cause me pain and suffering. I don’t actually have any fillings, and nor do I need any at this point. But the experience of getting veneers has put me off visiting the dentist completely. This is one major downside of the ‘get my daughter veneers’ decision, as clearly good dental hygiene is a must if you wish to keep your teeth, and ensuring good dental hygiene means a trip to the dentist every so often.

Problem number two – cost. The NHS dental service 20 years ago was vastly different to the service offered now. According to the dentist:

• the normal life of veneers is 10-15 years (mine are 20 years old, and therefore well ‘past it’.)
• the normal cost of a veneer is £3-600. Yes, that’s per veneer. I have 4.

So, the fact that the NHS now don’t offer veneers means that I have to find between £1200 and £2400 from somewhere, have fillings put on the front of my teeth (sorry, not an option for me) or lose my teeth (not an option also).

So, instead of funding half a family trip to New Zealand, instead I have to fund my not-so-smily-at-the-thought-of-all-that-money smile.

And the reason I ‘needed’ veneers in the first place? My mother refused to let us eat sweets, so I used to eat colgate blue minty gel toothpaste instead. This resulted in fluorosis, which means that although your teeth are strong, they are also brown.

So – the decision to not let me eat sweets, and the decision to get veneers have both had a bit of an unexpected impact on my adult life. It leaves me wondering what decisions I will make for my children that will have an unexpected outcome for them as adults. Will allowing the Wee Man to watch excessive amounts of Peppa Pig now turn him into a boring pig enthusiast in the future. Or will he be massively averse to the sight of them? Will saying ‘yuck’ every time I see marmite eventually convince him its a truly awful substance? Will leaving him at preschool every monday morning even though he begs me not to (even though as soon as I walk out of the door I look back and he’s playing happily) cause him to be forever fearful of playdoh and blocks?

One thing I can tell you – there’s no blue minty gel to be found in this house! And we do have some chocolate buttons 🙂

*the Wee Man is not his actual legal name, just in case you were wondering…