A year or so ago, I read a book called Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, about nineteenth-century China. A good part of it is about the practice of binding the girls' feet. I was horrified at the pain they endured and how calloused the mothers' were to the daughters' pleas for relief. There was a great essay in the back about different cultures and what they think is beautiful.
I hadn't thought much about that until last week when Lizzie visited the orthodontist. He put in an expander that we have to crank with a little key every night. And as I said things like, "We've all been through this" and "You'll be glad when you have a beautiful smile someday," it felt like deja vu. Because of that book. So now I'm feeling terribly guilty for making my little girl talk funny, be forced to consume only a liquid diet, and cry every night from the pain. And I've been thinking about why we place such value on a great smile and is it any different than how the Chinese felt about bound feet (except that they were crippled for the rest of their lives) or those African tribes that put rings around their necks.
Now I'm reading "Pinkalicious" every day to Daisy and I've developed a fear of red food coloring. So maybe it's just my problem and I need to read less and watch TV more...
4 comments:
Expanders are the devil. Just wait until she has try to sleep with a headgear every night for 4 years. Lizzie, I feel your pain! (And she really will be glad one day...)
Oh no! Poor Lizzie! We will be going through that soon, once I get up the guts to actually see an ortho for Zach who has a too small mouth and too big teeth. My fear has now only increased...it is a very valid comparison you make (and a great book!)
We read that book for book club last year...interesting discussion. I'm sure Lizzie is as tough as her mother! Good luck!
Totally worth it. You're not a bad mother. Compare it instead to The Agony and the Ecstasy.
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