This is a backdated post.
About 3 months ago when I was waiting outside our paed's clinic in the hospital, I saw a mother of 2 walking into the waiting area. She has a 2-3 year old toddler walking next to her and another probably 9 month old to a year old toddler in a stroller. When my eyes shifted to her baby in the stroller, I was horrified and aghast. Guess what she gave her baby to chew on? Just take a guess. I bet no one in their right frame of mind would give this to their baby in replacement of a teething ring. Guess guess guess....... what.....
I saw the baby chewing on a shoe.... yes, you read me right. The cute and beautiful baby with big round eyes was chewing on a bright colored plastic Crocs shoe. I was so disgusted and quickly fixated my eyes on the shoe, just to make sure that the shoe was clean, brand new and not a dirty shoe. Ok, it looked clean but but but... a shoe for your toddler to chew on? I took a closer look at the shoe to see if it's a teething ring in the shape of a shoe but nope, it was indeed a Crocs shoe! OMG, what was the mother thinking of? The paint or the plastic from the shoe could come off easily and if ingested it's toxic for Pete's sake. Minutes later, I saw the baby who was chewing on the shoe crawling everywhere on the hospital floor.... bare-footed and bare hands! Of all places, the mother let her baby crawl on the hospital floor! How clean can that be! And the mother doesn't look uneducated, she had an educated look, is pretty and has the 'rich lady' look too but the way she handled her baby makes me think she's someone from a
kampung.About an hour later when she left, her baby was still sucking the Crocs shoe! Goodness gracious! Aiyoh.... I can never forget this incident! Would you ever give your teething toddler a brand new shoe to bite even if it's disinfected? Come on, be frank with me.
I rather let my baby
chew on some durians than on a shoe!