The miracle cure

"Daddy I've got a boo boo" How many times have dads and moms around the world heard this? It made me stop and wonder where and how the term boo boo ever originated. I mean Boo Boo seems like an appropriate name for Yogi Bear's sidekick. It just somehow fits. But boo boo for a bleeding contusion? I understand "owey". I could even accept "hurty boo" or "booh hooh". I don't get boo boo. But with that said, I'm not in the business of challenging possibly centuries of the terms usage. What I am fairly sure of is that since the 1920's there has been this miracle cure for boo boos, we know it as the Band Aid.

According to the Band Aid web site, the product was introduced in 1920. The first Band Aid was three inches wide and eighteen inches long. They only sold $3,000 worth of them their first year. I wonder why... "Dude I said I needed to cover this scratch not be mummified". Apparently there have been significant modifications since the early days. Because today they are a must have commodity for any household with kids. Compared to the Band Aid Brand, Louis Pasteur looks like the Barney Fife of childhood ailment cures.

If either one of my girls gets the teeniest, tiniest little scrape or scratch, their first course of action is to alert either me or my wife about it. They'll ease on up or sometimes coming running up like their being attacked by a swarm of killer bees and say "Daddy I've got a boo boo". Of course I respond by inquiring as to where the boo boo is physically located on their person. The pointing then begins. "It's right here". Sometimes I can see the faint outline of a scratch. Other times I can see only clear, beautifully complected childhood skin. I'm pretty sure that even if I had the full personal use of the Hubble Space Telescope coupled with an MRI scan to examine them, I'd still find nothing. The fact of the matter is that whether the injury is real or perceived, in my house 9 times out of 10 the Band Aid is the preferred antidote by both parent and child.

Band Aid knows what they're doing to generate sales. Little kids love stickers. My girls would rather have a cool shiny sticker than a ten dollar bill (we've got training to do on the whole value of money thing). So Band Aid has created all sorts of glitzy character bandages. The one staple Band Aid we must have is Dora the Explorer. When my little girls need a bandage and you give them a Dora bandage everything is right in their world. Conversely, if we happen to have run out of Dora Band Aids and you try to use one of those pale skin colored plain Band Aids that look like they're intended for a corpse, it still works but it's not the same. It's kind of like winning the lottery and then finding out you've got to split the winnings with your ex-wife. You're still up but now you've got mixed emotions. It feels good and disappointing at the same time. To get the true adrenalin rush of the reward, you've got to have Dora Band Aids.

Remember the old Band Aid jingle "I'm stuck on Band Aids cause Band Aids stuck on me". Now that's a classic. The problem was that back then Band Aids were stuck on you. Really stuck on you. I remember what it was like to pull one of those things off.... see below
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Back in the seventies the Band Aid would stop the bleeding but I almost would prefer to lose a pint of blood or give up a limb than to have to tear one of those things off. The Band Aid sure has come a long way. For our household they are truly the miracle cure and have saved us plenty of crying and whimpering. Rock on Band Aid Brand!