What would you think of a parent who.....

[Seraphim]

What would you think of a parent who tried to remove loose baby teeth by tying string around it and then tying the other end to a door knob and slammed the door in hopes the tooth would come out? What would you think if that child was screaming and really protested but the parent did it anyway?

[Flyingpiglet]

I'd think said parent should be reoprted. Thats awful!

[eternalsunrise]

That's terrible. If the kid wanted to try it, then that's okay. But if the kid is protesting it, then that is wrong. Deep down the kid is going to develop distrust and hate for that parent.

[DN]

Traditional but not a good idea.

[OptomisticGirl]

I think it's awful but tbh that's how I lost most of my baby teeth - that or plyers.

[Crazyaboutdogs]

I would say that parent is extremely irresponsible and lacking in common sense. Aside from the trauma to the child, that rather violent "method" of tooth extraction has the potential to cause major physical damage to the area in question which could possibly have severe repurcussions to the health of the tissue in that area of the mouth.

[avman]

Yeah this isn't a modern way to do it, but they did do it this way for decades. I don't know if I'd go as far as "reportable". Maybe I'd recommend "coachable" instead.

 

"Hey I know that's probably the way your parents did it but now it's generally recommended to "

[Seraphim]

I think a bit in a little self defense of the person, this was years ago, more than a generation ago.( 39 years ago) I think it was a little more common then.

[OptomisticGirl]

I think a bit in a little self defense of the person, this was years ago, more than a generation ago.( 39 years ago) I think it was a little more common then.

 

It was still common 20 some odd years ago with myself. I def wouldn't do it with my kids nowadays...

[avman]

I think a bit in a little self defense of the person, this was years ago, more than a generation ago.( 39 years ago) I think it was a little more common then.

 

Ok well in that case everybody was doing that back then. It was just a commonly accepted way.

[Seraphim]

I think it was more commonly accepted, yes, but I kind of think traumatic for the kid, especially if they protested. I always wondered. This was what my dad did despite my screaming in protest. I have no memories of other kids talking about it being done that way. They very well could have, and I just do not remember,

[DN]

I don't think it is a good idea now but let's not forget that kids will loudly protest about having a splinter removed or a cut disinfected.

[Seraphim]

That is true,we all protest when something is going to hurt. Removing splinters and disinfecting is preventative for sure. Who knows maybe they thought ripping out teeth was necessary. I have no idea what he thought and most likely would not even remember doing it or even protest he did it who knows. I guess knowing now for the most part baby teeth can and will come out by themselves gives us a different perspective now.

[OptomisticGirl]

It's just the way people were raised back then. I remember my loose teeth hurting and my dad did it so they wouldn't hurt anymore.

[avman]

40 years ago though attitudes about parenting were a lot different. There wasn't the focus on trauma to the child and the hyper sensitivity that can exist today. People simply didn't focus on that. There weren't the instant resources of the internet. So people did things the way their parents did or the way their friends did. It was a different time.

[Seraphim]

Yes, I know. I just still find it odd. Why someone would do that if their child was so distressed. My mom never did it that way. She was of the same generation. She was pretty angry when she came home from work and found he had done that.

[OptomisticGirl]

Yes, I know. I just still find it odd. Why someone would do that if their child was so distressed. My mom never did it that way. She was of the same generation. She was pretty angry when she came home from work and found he had done that.

 

Even then though fathers were always a lot more 'strict' so to say than mothers. Mothers even then had some of that maternal instainct we translate into today of being aware of our child's issues.

[avman]

Yes, I know. I just still find it odd. Why someone would do that if their child was so distressed. My mom never did it that way. She was of the same generation. She was pretty angry when she came home from work and found he had done that.

 

 

Well but again maybe your father had it done that way when he was a child. Or his friends talked about doing it that way. There was the generally feeling that doing it that way "only hurts for a second and it's over". My parents didn't do it that way but many of my friends had theirs done with a doorknob.

 

Remember there are lots of things in childhood that are not fun, but still must be done. Lets talk about giving shots back in the day. It wasn't *poof* like it is now where they combine everything into 1 or perhaps 2 shots. You got shot after shot. Long needles. Parents had to hold the kids down. I'd call that traumatic, but still was necessary. That's the way it happened 40-50 years ago.

 

Fortunately we have had a lot of progress now!

[Seraphim]

I would say my mother was more strict than my dad. My dad did not care what you did no matter what age you were as long as it was not bothering him. If you did not talk to him and left him alone life was cool to him. That was more why he pulled the tooth, so I would not whine to him about it. But for sure my mother was far more sympathetic.

[Seraphim]

Well but again maybe your father had it done that way when he was a child. Or his friends talked about doing it that way. There was the generally feeling that doing it that way "only hurts for a second and it's over". My parents didn't do it that way but many of my friends had theirs done with a doorknob.

 

Remember there are lots of things in childhood that are not fun, but still must be done. Lets talk about giving shots back in the day. It wasn't *poof* like it is now where they combine everything into 1 or perhaps 2 shots. You got shot after shot. Long needles. Parents had to hold the kids down. I'd call that traumatic, but still was necessary. That's the way it happened 40-50 years ago.

 

Fortunately we have had a lot of progress now!

 

 

For sure! Thank goodness for progress, a lot of procedures are less brutal than they used to be. Actually his mother probably did do that to him as well, because she would beat them with a tree branch for even looking sideways at her, so that would not surprise me at all.

[Madison12]

I got my teeth yanked out and yeah it sucked but that's just what we did back then and I wasn't traumatized. It's actually pretty funny now when I think back on those stories.

[thejigsup]

I would say they were a normal parent. My mother did that all the time and I was not traumatized. I didn't like it, but I didn't like spinach, either, but she made me eat it. I cried, but then was so happy I no longer had that darn lose tooth in my mouth. Things are different today, for sure. Kids no longer play outside and get exercise, they talk back to their parents with little fear of punishment, and the parents have to listen to the children, not vice versa. I love children and think they are wonderful. I love how child abuse is no longer swept under the carpet and children have more of a voice these days. That being said, I see so many of my students have this air of entitlement that we didn't have as children. I think the right attitude is somewhere in the middle.

[Seraphim]

Maybe it is the perspective of the relationship you had with your parent? Maybe that made the difference to whether you would think it was traumatic or not? To tell you the truth I have no emotional attachment to what happened and can not even remember if the tooth came out or not. I have no emotional attachment though to the fact that I was a child. I have no memories of feeling that I was one. I look at pictures of myself from childhood, and think " hm wow, that was me, I have NO concept of that in an emotional sense." I never had a good relationship with my dad when I was little or now. So while I do not blame him for doing it, I realize a lot of people did it, I just question more his intention of why he did it. Eh hard to explain.

[superfox]

Yeah, sorry buts it's kind of funny - for me! My dad would joke about doing that and one day we tried it with one of my wobblers, I'm such a chicken that every time he tried to slam the door I'd run towards it instead! Never worked, it was always such a big joke that it would make me try and wobble it out myself instead!

[journeynow]

I think a bit in a little self defense of the person, this was years ago, more than a generation ago.( 39 years ago) I think it was a little more common then.

I think it WAS quite common, although I can't remember it working (on me). Plyers worked better. (Of course I screamed bloody murder, but that's not unusual.) It did not scar me.