Vital Skillz

As a parent I'm responsible for teaching Baby C some skills. Most of the skills that we need for surviving in society are obvious - potty training, self-feeding, getting dressed, talking, etc. I realized this weekend that there's a vital skill that's seriously overlooked in the parenting literature. Nose blowing.

Baby C has had a cold since late Thursday night. His nose is running like a freaking faucet and he's been snotting ALL.OVER.THE.PLACE. He has streaks on his sleeves, I have streaks on my shoulder, the couch is covered in snot... I'm surprised that he hasn't tried to wipe his nose on the cat.

How the heck do you teach a toddler to blow his nose? He would be so much more comfortable if he could just get the snot out of there. I keep putting the cloth up to his nose to wipe it, and every time I hope that he just happens to exhale at that perfect moment and it will just "click." Instead I just get whatever nastiness I was able to swipe off the outer edge, and then a minute later I see him blowing snot bubbles again. Ew. It's just not right.

There are books and instructional videos for every other skill out there. Why not nose blowing?

I guess this is just payback from when I wiped my nose on my aunt's arm when I was little.