Even Sweet Little Children Have Bad Breath

Even Sweet Little Children Have Bad Breath.

Happy Saturday! I hope that you are having a nice autumn day. When I saw this article, I thought you would appreciate it. Apparently, a music teacher has had just enough of children with bad breath.

By the way, I wrote an article recently about how to deal with bad breath in children. Check it out at http://www.cure-badbreath.com/articles/article/3091130/55727.htm

Enjoy the article below.

Alexa

From The Star Online: When Little Angels Stink

Saturday, September 23, 2006
By BONNIE LEE


I'M A music teacher. One day I had an eight-year-old come in for her first lesson. She dressed as if she was in the movie Disney Princesses and she had a smile that melted my heart.

I smiled back and beckoned her to sit next to me on the piano bench.

She sat and I patted her before asking for her name. But the minute she opened her little mouth, I felt like a stink bomb had been released. I thought, Dear me, this little angel has halitosis?

It wasn't a happy thought because I would have to coach her to sing and play her first do-re-mi over the next hour.

This was one occupational hazard I didn't quite expect from teaching. I had imagined that I would have to nag, Practice makes perfect" unendingly; little did I realise that my nose would have to put up with such abuse.

As a teacher, I meet kids from all ages, shapes and sizes and, believe me, they come in a variety of smells too. Olfactory repulsion comes in all forms bad breath, sweaty armpits, oily scalps, BO and, woe betide, flatulence!

I once asked, Gee, what's that sound and smell? and the student coolly replied, My fragrant fart!
Occasionally, the smell of dead rodent can be traced to a harmless-looking bag that has never known what detergent meant.

Often I have to stand close to a student's head, and if it stinks, I try to ask as casually possible, Bathe already or not?(after the customary Eat already?, only to begat this: Whole day got tuition, computer lesson, then piano lesson, where got time to bathe?

I then nod sympathetically and start to breathe through my mouth.

On hot days, a student might walk in smelling like a skunk. But though their armpits may reek of bottled sweat and their heads may stink like fermented Chinese cabbage, I cannot bring myself to tell them so. I can only hope that wearing a nose mask will soon become the next big fashion statement.

Some students do have good personal hygiene but this is little help when their growing bodies go haywire. I can't fault biological changes since I was once a teenager too.

I have tried to combat the odours with room fragrance but the smell of so-called "forest breeze" is as fake as plastic fir.

By the end of the day, my nose would get so confused it could no longer distinguish between the smell of a grilled sirloin and puppy poo.

Since I'm sensitivity to how others smell, I take great responsibility to ensure that I myself smell pleasant. Once known as the Durian Queen, I have now abstained from that thorny delight. Even my favourite sambal petai has had to be dropped from my diet.

Incidentally, my worst nightmare came about one day when my daughter, returning from school, gave me a peck. I caught a whiff of something that made me behave like an airport search dog, sniffing and snorting all over her.

Oh no! You've got bad breath! I looked for her water bottle and, to my chagrin, found it was still full. I asked, Why didn't you drink your water?

Mum, water makes me wanna pee! I hate the school toilet. It stinks!

But now your mouth stinks!

Thanks to her, I am learning to accept that unpleasant smells are a part of growing up.

Nowadays, I ask that my students to drink lots of water in class, get them to wash their hands and face if they have come in from the sun. And of course, there's a bowl of peppermint sweets at the counter.

So dear kids, now that the cat's out of the bag, please do your teacher a favour.

Freshen up before turning up for piano lessons.