Credit Cards for Bee Stings
My son is 17 months old and has never been stung by a bee.
But if and when it happens, apparently I should reach for my credit card.
I was reading through this month’s issue of Parents magazine and found one of those articles that talks about the healing properties of everyday items around your house.
And, of course, I read every word. Because it’s fascinating, isn’t it? If a credit card can help my child overcome a scary situation (besides the obvious method of buying him a pony or a carousel), then I want to know how. I don’t know if I’ll believe it. But I simply must read on. I challenge you not to.
OK, back to the credit card. I left you hanging, didn’t I? Here’s how the credit card trick works. According to the magazine, you should use the flat edge of a credit card to gently scrape across the area of your child’s skin until the bee’s stinger comes out. The credit card helps prevent additional venom from entering the wound because it doesn’t squeeze the stinger like your fingers or tweezers might.
Well, there you go. But here’s my question: Will you actually do this? When your child is screaming and crying and doing the I-got-stung-by-a-bee dance around your backyard, will your first reaction be to run for your wallet? Because when I read about these unorthodox methods, I don't just wonder if they really work. I also wonder if anyone ever uses them.
I hope your child doesn’t encounter a bee. But if it happens and you grab your Visa, and it works, please tell us. Perhaps I’ll stash some credit cards around my yard in the potted plants or something. Hey, they’re better off sitting in a pot of dirt waiting on bee stings than burning a hole in my wallet anyway.
Now here are my thoughts on some of the other tips I read. I am not saying these methods don’t work. I’m just trying to picture myself actually doing them.
For warts: put duct tape on your child’s wart. Yes, that’s right, duct tape. Apparently it inhibits wart growth. Who knew? I had a wart on my finger in high school. Oh, how I hated that wart. I finally had it frozen off by a dermatologist. But little did I know that the answer to my wart woes was hidden right in our kitchen junk drawer. I could have saved my parents a lot of loot, had I known. And maybe I could have even started a cool trend at school.
For nosebleeds: cayenne pepper in the nose. Apparently, this spice helps blood clot. Glad I don’t like spicy foods. I think I’d forever axe this ingredient from my dinner repertoire after seeing it mingle with my child’s blood and boogers. Yum yum.
For swimmer’s ear: a blow-dryer. My son runs from my blow-dryer crying so I can’t imagine what he’d do if I tried to aim the thing at his ear. I think it would scar him for life. Better to bar him from the swimming pool and deal with that fallout, I think.
For a stuck zipper: run a bar of soap over the teeth. And then have fun getting the soap out of the zipper.
TuscMoms.com Editor Kristi Palma is an award-winning journalist with a Master's Degree from Northeastern. But she's first and foremost a stay-at-home mom to Jack, a blue-eyed banana-lovin' little boy born in November '06.
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