Maybe if I had a truck...

(...Nate...)

Not everyone can be as cool as the garbage man.

For the last 2 weeks, the kindergarten classes at Bella’s school have been inviting people from the community to come in and talk about their jobs. One day they had a nurse, another a garbage man (who brought his truck), a police officer, a magazine editor – and of course the dentist!

Bella told me I couldn’t be boring. I agreed. So I asked her what wouldn’t be boring and she told me (of all things) x-rays. I laughed. But I also made sure I showed the kids some x-rays and she was right, they weren’t boring. I had 120 or so little pairs of eyes on me as I waved my giant, 3 foot inflatable toothbrush around, talking about brushing and flossing.

I showed them pictures of teeth up close (which of course elicited a long “eeeeeewwwww, gross” response from the kids) and pictures of cavities. We did a healthy eating activity, an activity with alginate impression material, and then for the big finish, we had some kids pretend like they were teeth and we used the giant toothbrush to practice brushing on them. The kids had fun. I had fun. And everyone learned a lot, which I guess is important too.

I asked Bella afterward if I was boring and luckily she said I wasn’t. Then came the biggest question of all – up until this point she told me the garbage man had been the favorite, so I asked her, “Bella, was I more fun than the garbage man?”

She looked right at me and said with a straight face, “Dad, you didn’t have a truck.”

I guess next year I should get a truck.