Crest Pro Health

(This post contains a tip. It also contains a warning.)

The whole parenting thing is tough. Sometimes I do fantastic and come out smelling like a rose, and other times are pure fiasco. But my eldest is 21 years old - I'm not exactly a rookie here.

I've found that solutions to problems are sometimes readily apparent and other times it might take you 20 years to figure it out.

Having had four children I have spent a lot of time cleaning toothpaste off of bathroom counters, sinks, floors, bathmats, the toothpaste tube and its lid, shirts, faces, toothbrush handles, etc. You get my drift. It's been a problem and a pain in the behind. In the past I have attempted to solve the problem by:

• yelling at the children
• grumbling about it as I scrubbed petrified globs of blue gel
• shaking my fist at the universe.

Finally, after 20 years I figured out the solution - and it was there all along if only I had thought about it for a second. Little kids have little hands. Regulation tubes of toothpaste are hard for them to use with any amount of finesse -squeezing out a tiny dab onto a little toothbrush is tricky when you are being jostled around in the bathroom by your siblings and - pay attention here, folks - your tube of paste is bigger than your arm.

In a moment of perfect clarity and brilliance I bought my Little Friend travel/trial sized toothpaste, and voila! No more toothpaste problems in the bathroom. It's been working well for several months now.

There's your tip. Tried and true.

On Monday I bought my Little Friend a tiny new tube. This time it happened to be Crest Pro Health in the "clean mint" flavor. He brushed his teeth with it for the first time on Tuesday morning. And promptly came out with red and watery eyes to report that "some of my breath came out while I was brushing and the spicy air got in my eyes".

And here's your warning: Watch out for spicy toothpaste air and definitely don't get it in your eyes.