We have reached peak level band aid obsession in our household, to the point where I am considering limiting band aid access just like I limit screen time and sweets. Also, the refusal to wash while wearing band aids is a PROBLEM. Not to mention, it’s a pretty expensive habit.
Please tell me I am not the only mom doling out band aids like a crack dealer who works for free??? Why do my kids love them so much?
Here are the seven levels of a band aid addiction:
LEVEL ONE:
Your child owns a few character themed band aids like Dora, Hello Kitty and the Muppets. She doesn’t mind wearing band aids because she likes the characters but does not ask for them other then when she has a legitimate reason.
LEVEL TWO:
Your husband buys a box of princess themed band aids, thinking he is doing his daughter a service. Instead she becomes super selective about which princesses are allowed to cover her cuts and bruises. You find yourself holding wrapped band aids up to the light to discern whether it is the coveted Ariel band aid. You successfuly convince her to wear Cinderella and then applaud yourself as if you’ve just taught her to read. Belle has been rejected so many times, you put those in a separate pile designated for her little sister. Tears start to flow. Not because she is in pain, but because you have ripped back the paper and revealed *gasp* JASMINE.
LEVEL THREE:
Your daughter refuses to wash one hand because she doesn’t want to ruin her Ariel band aid. After several battles with her about this, you just accept it. She begins to call you after bedtime claiming she is injured. You run in because you think she might actually be hurt, but no, she is never hurt. She just wants more band aids. You oblige anyway, because YOU CAN’T TAKE THE SCREAMING.
LEVEL FOUR:
It’s been over a week since she has washed her left hand. She actually took a bath with her hand held above the water the entire time. She continues requesting band aids for boo-boos you don’t believe really exist. “See????” she says as she shows you a tiny white scratch below her knee as if it were a gaping hole that will not stop bleeding. “Are you sure you need a band aid?” “Yes mom! It hurts, it hurts!!!!” You realize this means she is going to refuse to wash her leg too.
LEVEL FIVE:
You now judge the seriousness of her injuries based on whether she is willing to accept a non-princess themed band aid. She cut her foot at a friend’s house and screamed louder when she was presented with a plain band aid than she did when she originally got hurt. A friend saves the day with a box of Doc McStuffins but then all comes crashing down when your daughter realizes the only two band aids left are Hallie Hippo. You find yourself silently cursing the maker of Band Aids— Why can’t you just make them all Doc McStuffins??? What kid wants Lambie or Hallie Hippo??? Later that night, she screams when you force her to submerge the foot with the band aid. “But it will get ruined!” You notice how she didn’t say the soapy water will hurt her cut, she said her band aid would get ruined. “But you don’t even like Hallie Hippo!” She looks at you like you are crazy. Your younger daughter who has been witnessing her big sister’s growing addiction begins to request band aids too. She doesn’t even try to pretend she is really hurt. But you oblige because it’s easier than explaining to a baby why you won’t just wrap a band aid around her finger.
LEVEL SIX:
Your daughter becomes enraged when she catches you wearing a Snow White band aid on your thumb. “It was all we had!” you yell in your defense. You neglect to mention that unlike her, you were ACTUALLY BLEEDING. “That’s my second favorite!!!” she screams like it’s a valid argument. You tell her you will make a late night run to Target to replenish your supply. Unfortunately, Target is out of princess band aids and you must choose between Mickey Mouse and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You are afraid to return to your own home.
LEVEL SEVEN:
Both your daughters scream for band aids after bedtime in unison now. Your older daughter insists on putting them on herself which makes you tense up as you watch her accidently crumple one side rendering it useless. “NO!!!!! You are wrecking Ariel!!!!!” you shout in your own head as if you have bought into the importance. She says she messed it up and requests another. You fumble through the box to find the last of the Ariels. “PLEASE LET ME DO IT!” you shout knowing there will be hell to pay if she messes this one up too. Three minutes after you have it all worked out and leave the room, you hear your younger daughter start screaming. You rush in, concerned, but realize she just pulled off her band aid and wants another. You go through a pack a night. Your baby wakes up with them stuck in her hair. While walking down the sidewalk, your older daughter scrapes her chin. She insists on a band aid even though it’s not bleeding. “Let’s just clean it off— I don’t have any band aids on me.””NO MOM, IT HURTS!!!!” There is a drugstore across the street and you run in to get a box. You put a band aid on her chin as requested. It looks ridiculous. She points to a scrape on her knee. You put one there too. In addition to the band aids she’s already wearing, there are now five total. A Cinderella band aid on her chin, a Mickey Mouse on her knee, a Snow White on her other knee, an Ariel on her finger and a Hallie Hippo on her foot. Only one of them is really necessary. You are now embarrassed to walk down the street with your own daughter. You don’t take a picture of the whole spectacle, because you assume one day it will embarrass her too.
At least you hope so.
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I’m right there with you! Maybe I’m in level 8 where I started searching on google if there is such thing as detox centers for childrens with band aid addiction!
There are not!
It seems as though there is always one or two Ariel band-aids in a sea of Cinderellas.
Haha, well written! The kids at summer camp always want a band-aid, no matter if it is the boring old brown ones.
This rings true for boys too. There are Marvel Band-Aids, but the box only has Wolverine, Hulk and Iron Man. Which works awesome, unless your child loves Captain America, who is on the box, but not a band aid choice. So you open all the band aids to find you have no Captain America, only to have your child tell you that we must go get another box to see if that one has Captain America. You buy out the store and have a bunch of useless open band aids and still no Captain America. Then your child said, ‘well, let’s find Thor.’ Repeat above.
In our house, the rule is “No Blood – No Band-Aid.”
I am only at level 5 but i believe I am currently skipping level 6 and jumping right into level 7. We are all enablers. I’m sure there will be an episode on Intervention soon.
I got by so lucky. When my son was a pre-schooler, he had warts on his fingers that had to be treated with a chemical to avoid spreading them – he sometimes sucked his fingers. After the doctor applied the chemical, every single finger and thumb had to be covered in band-aids. To prevent washing off the effectiveness or putting the chemical in his mouth, I suppose. The chemical burned, though, and his hands were painful for a night. After that, you couldn’t get that kid near a band-aid before he was fourteen years old because he convinced himself that the band-aids were what hurt him. Thankfully, he rarely bled.
An expensive addiction, but definitely helpful when trying to determine the seriousness of the injury. I know the screaming can be unbearable, but I say no blood, no band-aid. Good luck to you!!
I had it as a child. My parents first noticed when I insisted on having a band aid for each bruise. I have very fare skin and soon any blemish had to have one. I still see my vulnerability to the addiction each time I get a finger cut. Sometimes staring at the band aid all day just brings back too many memories and too strong an urge.
What a miserable way to live. Thankfully my children aren’t like this.
We are at the point in my 3 year old twin’s band aid obsession that:
1. My son ripped off the Minnie Mouse Band Aid covering the blister on my foot (damn new shoes!) and gave it to his twin sister. He then scolds me it. “Mommy! Taking Lily’s ban-aide!”
2. My daughter has now stated calling anything and everything a booboo just to get a Band Aid. A black smudge on her foot… booboo. A piece of leaf stuck to her knee….booboo. Black magic marker line on her hand…booboo.
We are pretty sure by next week my 3 year old twins may actually start self harming just to get a Band Aid.
I forgot to mention that we have my 15 month old son on a 24 hour watch. He made the grieve mistake of emptying the box of Elmo Band Aids into the toilet. If you ever wanted to see a pair of pre-schoolers act like their kitten just died….flush their Elmo Band Aids.
I’m pretty sure the twins are plotting their revenge on their baby brother. And it won’t be pretty.
Rejoice! For band aids are currently on sale at Target!
I would seriously trade you our cache of Ariel band aids for Tiana and/or Rapunzel. My kid thinks the box is useless once those two are gone.
And what is it about bedtime that raises the call for band aids? Mine does this too. It’s like the preschool version of the “Twilight Bark.”
I cure bandaid addiction all the time as a first grade teacher. It takes two weeks. I leave them out where they have to get a stool to get them. The kids are allowed to help themselves, but they have to get them, open them, put them on, throw away the trash, and get no added attention. I don’t comment on them. I go through several boxes in two weeks, and then they are over it.
I taught older toddlers for a long time, and man the bandaid addiction phase is intense! Amusing, but intense. Imagine your girls times FIVE. Haha.
Trick that worked for us – get colorful tape. (Does princess tape exist??) Be happy to oblige—maybe wear some too?—and pray to the gods of Disney that the novelty will eventually wear off.
Mazzy may be too old to be convinced, but you could perhaps tell her it’s a Special Bandaid Tape. (Let’s be honest, if it calms the chaos, that tape will be pretty damn special.)
What a great way to solve this issue for older kids! Showing neutral feelings about things like this is always the best way to go.
My little girl(3) got a doctor kit a few weeks ago. Not only is she covered in bandaids, but so are every stuffed animal, barbie and dolly and train in the house. Bandaids are hell to get off plush fur.
We just say no. Simple. Unless it looks like she nicked an artery and/or blood is gushing, no band-aid.
I’m still at the level where my kids scream when they see a bandage, any kind of ointment, a cotton swab or ball, and washcloths if they get injured.
OH MY GOD, YES. Two nights ago, I literally yelled, “I’m going to buy all ugly bandaids for now on!”. That was my big threat. Matty cut his finger pretty badly, and there were no bandaids available because we had literally burned through 100 bandaids in about 3 weeks. Mostly for invisible cuts that appear at bedtime when you just want them to go the F to sleep so you will give any amount of bandaids. I also look through the wrapper.
Guilty side note: I have a box of Cynthia Rowley bandaids that I had hoarded in my bathroom and reluctantly gave up.
Other guilty side note: I got mad at Matty when he used one of the unicorn bandaids I’d gotten for my birthday for his serious cut during the big Bandaid Shortage.
I am a pre school teacher and I once had to ban Elmo bandages from my classroom. Seriously, I sent home a letter to the parents and everything!
I have lived through the band aid addiction with more than one child. We had to make a rule that if I don’t see blood you don’t get a band aid no matter how much it hurts. This caused some painful (for me) tantrums, but eventually they do get over it and out grow it.
But they still want stickers as rewards for suffering through the pain. LOL
The best thing about this is that the ad at the top of the page is for vodka. Vodka will make the car payment’s worth of money going to bandages more bearable!
I’m not exactly sure where we fit on the bandaid levels (somewhere around level 4 I guess); my kids have never refused to wash due to bandaid placement. And I stopped buying “fancy” bandaids when the younger child suddenly needed one every 5 minutes-plain brown for us in bulk from the club store. However, the 3yo has recently decided that her “bam-baids” must be allowed to fall completely off by themselves. No one is allowed to help or encourage her to take off a bandaid that is no longer needed. Today, one “fell off” by itself when I touched it-it had been hanging by one side on her arm for a couple days and I just could not take it anymore.
We went through the “bandaid addiction”. I does end!
It started when I got character bandaids ONCE. And it was all down hill from then. At one stage, we had ridiculous number of different types. Marvel, disney princesses, Blue Sharks, pink dolphins, Mr Men, Mickey mouse, Disney Cars, Dora the explorer. And the “favourite” would change by the hour! I pulled the pin after my youngest (3) and my eldest (5) pushed my bandaid related buttons one too many times. Bed time. Eldest has 3 fingers on each hand covered in 2-3 bandaids, one on the back of her hand, one on her shoulder, knee, foot, toe and screamed at me for one on her belly because she was “Dying with pain. OWWWWWWWWWWW it huuuuuuuuuuuurts! Pwwwwease, Mummy!” Youngest had more bandaids than exposed skin on her leg, arms and FACE! then yelled asking for more and insisted SHE put it on herself. I CRACKED! And refused to buy anything but beige bandaids at $2 per hundred. (as opposed to $2.70 for 15 strips. BUT I caved myself when the limited edition classic Mickey mouse collectors tin came out (but I hid them)
Haha! I just bought 4 boxes at Target this weekend. Sale, had to stock up! I think we’re level 6.
My son would never wear them. My daughter went through this exact same thing down to the Ariel fixation and the fact Daddy bought the box that started the borderline self harming to get a band aid scenario. What caused utter mayhem was when my son was experimenting with an inflatable toy from a fair seeing how far he could push a pencil in before it burst (answer: not very far) and then used half a pack of Princesses to mend said inflatable without asking. Oh. My. Goodness. Total hysteria ensued. Why did I not kniw these things before reproducing?
We are currently in band-aid rehab for this exact problem!! After burning through 2 boxes (Planes & Princesses) in less than 3 weeks, (when approximately 3 band-aids were used for actual injuries), I had to put a stop to it. And always at bedtime. Our routine became “brush teeth, potty, band-aid” every night. Thankfully, my kids were less concerned with which character they got than with the excitement of guessing who it was. We had a brief setback when they tried to play the invisible boo-boo game and get “grown up” band-aids but I put a stop to that. I think we are on our way to recovery, because the other day my son was willing to accept a plain one when he had an actual, bleeding injury.
p.s. My daughter is a lot like Mazzy in many ways and she also freaked out about hand washing while wearing a band-aid.
We haven’t used any yet because the pediatrician gave me a horror story about working in the ER during a bandaid related emergency. I hope she stops telling me these scary stories that keep me up at night. This post and all the responses are hilarious though and a much happier cautionary tail.
My 2 year old was all about the bandaids (cars, minions or superheros only…oh and the occasional Dora) until I introduced him to the temporary tattoo last weekend. That thing is almost unrecognizable now but he still runs around showing everyone his “hulk smash!” and he hasn’t asked for a single bandaid since this discovery… much cheaper than bandaids too YAY!!!
beyond beyond hysterical. Gavin is wearing a big ass ugly Teenage mutant ninja turtle bandaid on his knee in my instagram pic today. Didn’t even notice it till I read this blog. HA!
Is there a level 10? If there is a level 10, we are on it. I wake up in the morning to a trail of bandaid wrappings scattered on the bathroom floor. There are bandaids stuck on BOTH of my cars. My daughter bit her tongue and then got mock level 10 upset when a bandaid would not stick and wanted me to go to the store to get tongue bandaids. I legit cut my finger chopping veggies the other night, my daughter who has multiple bandaids covering “non”injuries looks at me and says, as my blood drips into the sink, “I don’t think you need a bandaid mommy”.
Where does this fit in the levels? My 2.5 yr old told me after the Hello Kitty bandaid finally fell off a would that was healed that her knee is “purtier” with a bandaid?
My 2 boys HATE bandaids! I can’t even come near them with one. It’s hell in my house when they actually get a cut with blood!!
Same!!
i still hate getting my bandaids wet but only because they always seem to be missing in my house when i need them.
I remember growing up that my mom refused to have character bandaids in the house and wouldnt give out the beige bandaids unless there was blood. i think i am going to apply the same rule for my son when he gets older.
We say “No blood, no bandaid” at our house too. Good luck!
Love this one! Mine are total bandaid addicts!
Hilariously written! My boys are now 9 and 12 but we went through all these stages as well, except with Cars band-aids (not nearly enough Lightning McQueens in the box, and who the heck wants Chick Hicks the bad car???!!!) and Tigger. I think I still have some Eyores left over! We shifted to a bleeding only policy as well which helped ease through this. Now they are over it and I just have to buy the extra large size ones for their big scrapes. Those only come in plain tan. Hang in there!
LOL, all too true. It kills me too that she insists on doing it herself. No, you’ll ruin it! It’s so suspenseful. Now, in an odd twist, she doesn’t want “baby” Band-aids. Only big-kid Band-aids. Sure, because adults always claim to be bleeding when they’re not and wants three band-aids for each “injury.”
I am so glad you posted this! I was actually starting to consider using “decoy” band-aids. My toddler skinned her knee on the way to daycare and as soon as we arrived at school all the kids in her class came up to her and started poking at her band-aid causing her to cry. But I imagine decoy band-aids would only encourage this addiction!
Keren I just wanted to say you made me laugh. Haha. I only have 1 child and he is almost 5, but he always wants a bandaid and scolds me as well if I use his. Haha.
LOL!!
Addiction at our house originally started with potty training. With all the bribes of M&Ms, and toys, singing, potty charts…..she would use the potty for a band aid! We are talking 4 on each arm!
I am fueling the addiction because I can’t take the complaining… I just had our pharmacy special order me the Spiderman Nexcare ones since I can’t find them in the stores any more.
Shame…shame
Wow, this is by far the best example of my life with my girls and band aids…and I think it’s only going to get worse as they get older. (They are 4 and 20 months).
Emily’s 9 year old brother is obsessed with band aids. So I bought him princess ones. HDR hates band aids
I teach first grade and will only buy regular band aids for my classroom for this reason exactly! I know it becomes an addiction and they would be digging through the container to find the right one! The no blood no band aid rule also applies!
[…] it possible that anyone uses Band-Aid bandages more than my family over the summer? I don’t think so. I think it’s partly because the kids are more […]
1 kid, more band-aids that Red Cross!
Band-aids are the fad in our house right now.
Our 7 year old daughter is very picky about which characters can cover her cuts and bruises. Hello Kitty, Shopkins, (specifically Lippy Lips) and Cinderella can cover scrapes. Only Sleeping Beauty can cover the messy bloody boo-boos. She also fakes for band-aids. “You know the rule Ivy-Rose, no blood, no band-aid”
“But my arm might bleed, I have a bruise”
Bethany (5) is picky too. But she’s more tomboyish. She can only have Minions, Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles, Nemo, and Jake and The Neverland Pirates to cover her cuts and bruises. She’s not as addicted as her sister, so she doesn’t have the “No Blood, No Band-Aid” rule. Hers aren’t from playing princesses or fake like Ivy-Rose’s. Hers are from falling of her bike.
Emery (2) is not addicted. She hates Band-aids for unknown reasons.
[…] by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. but my kids’ obsessions with Band-Aid bandages has been well-documented before this […]
Man, I love your writing and I love this blog! And I don’t even have kids, it’s just super fun to read these things!
7 levels you share very interesting and attractive. I’m quite impressed with the 7 levels you share.
Great because of the knowledge you share with us, I will always follow your blog and will share your blog with my friends.
An costly dependency, but sincerely useful when seeking to determine the seriousness of the harm. I realise the screaming may be insufferable, however I say no blood, no band-aid. God bless you!!