Little Lessons in Life

I was reminded of a very important lesson in life the other day at work.

I had a little boy, about 8 years old maybe, come into the office on Saturday with a bead stuck in his ear. I sat him up on the stretcher in the treatment room and asked him how he managed to get a bead stuck in his ear. He replied, looking rather sheepish, that he had no idea how the bead got stuck in his ear. Of course he didn't, why did I even bother asking :0) So I was going to try and flush the bead out of his ear with water. We use a squrit bottle with a long tube attached to it to flush ears. When I pulled it out of the cupboard his eyes were as big as saucers staring at it. He was so cute he said "whoa, that's huge!" Well, I told him "you should see the one I have for kids who stick things in their nose!" So I put the tube in his ear and had him help me by holding the water bucket underneath. On the first squirt he let out a scream like I've never heard before. He thought the water had gone into his brain and that his brain was coming out of his ear. Poor kid. So I explained to him that his brain was one of the most protected parts of his body, completely surrounded by bone and he didn't have to worry. That calmed him slightly, at least enough that I was able to eventually get the bead out. The whole time he was promising me and his Dad that he'd never stick another bead in his ear. It was pretty funny. He kept the bead and when he left the office he told his Dad "I'm never getting another bead in my ear and especially not my nose cause I don't want to see the bigger squirt bottle!" He learned a valuable life lesson that day, never stick things in your ear or up your nose. :0)