Most stares are actually from kids

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#1 Post by **Tin Man** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 5:35 pm

I've noticed since I got braces that most adults usually don't take notice, but alot of times you'll catch kids starting at you. While I've had alot of instances of this over the past few months, the two most glaring were today.
Where I work I usually find myself around a fair amount of kids all day. I was sitting taking a water break and I got that "someone is looking at me" feeling. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a young girl of about 12 or so (also in braces) looking at me with a slightly confused look at her face. I didn't pay much notice but a little later I caught her staring at me again. I finally smiled kinda wide so she got a good flash of the tin grin and appearently that satisfied her curiosity, because she stopped looking after that.
A few hours later I was shooting the breeze with a young couple and their child (probably about 8-9 years old) and the kid is pretty much gawking at me during the entire conversation. He finally interupts and asks me if I'm a teenager. Mom immediately goes beat red realizing what he is getting at and scolds him then apologizes to me. I told her it was quite allright and told the little brat...ahem, I mean child...that I'm actually 22 and while their aren't a whole lot of us, there are adults in the world sporting metal mouths.

#2 Post by **BraceFace13** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 5:51 pm

I'll bet you, she was staring because she likes you.

#3 Post by **Tin Man** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 9:02 pm

If so I wish I had that effect on more women my own age.

#4 Post by **bbsadmin** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 12:14 am

Nobody ever mistook ME for a teenager when I had my braces....but when you get north of 40 I guess that is to be expected...

However, after I first got them on I volunteered to read a story to my daughter's kindergarten class. In the middle of the story, a girl blurted out, "YOU HAVE BRACES!!" And then the whole group got going..."My brother has braces!" "My cousins all have braces!" ...and then they proceeded to ask me WHY and Do They Hurt? It was funny and cute.

#5 Post by **joplin** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 1:55 am

Nobody ever mistook ME for a teenager when I had my braces....but when you get north of 40 I guess that is to be expected...

No such luck north of 30 either. Instead I got a pat on the knee and a comment "you should have taken care of that when you were a kid" from my boyfriend's father when I had said how my mouth was hurting after just getting my lower braces on. At 36 you neither need patting on your knee (AAAARGH!) nor reminders of the fact that you never had the privilege to get the needed treatment when the time was more "appropriate"... Besides a kid does not have what it takes to "take care of it" for crying out loud!

Sorry, this got a little off the track

#6 Post by **swellen** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 2:53 am

joplin wrote:At 36 you neither need patting on your knee (AAAARGH!) nor reminders of the fact that you never had the privilege to get the needed treatment when the time was more "appropriate"... Besides a kid does not have what it takes to "take care of it" for crying out loud!

In a way, people our age (well, any of us over 30) are lucky that we didn't get braces as kids. It would have been the full metal banding option, usually with several extractions as a matter of course - that sometimes led to many people winding up with 'flat' profiles.

As for the knee.... I suppose it depends who's doing the patting!

#7 Post by **decisionmade** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:06 am

I've recently come to the conclusion that maybe indeed "all things happen for a reason.."..I had neither the maturity, confidence/self esteem, or sense of responsibiltiy..to have begun and completed the extreme steps..surgery..etc.etc. at a younger age...I was a late bloomer and had many other issue that took on greater importance...so for me the timng has just been right to conquer all this as a 34 year old adult...and now I am embracing the opportunity and the experience even with all the ups and downs..life is good

those "pat on the knee" commnets are obnoxious and come from ignorance and insensitivity..we must jut roll our eyes and also smile knowing we know the real deal

Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:58 am

So...is it too much to hope that someone will mistake me for a teenager?

My initial thought was that the 12 year old in TinMan's post was worried about how long he'd been wearing them and was concerned that she'd be wearing them forever!

Only two days to go...I can't wait!

#9 Post by **SugarHiccup** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:53 am

I'm also 22 and have had the same 'are you a teenager' question from a kid.

I find braced teens looking at me, so I smile at them and 99% of them smile shyly back at me, or look sympathetically at me.

Some of the suprised 'she's like me' looks I get are kinda cute.

#10 Post by **Tin Man** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:12 am

I probably should have mentioned in my original post that I have never been accused of looking younger than I really am. My whole life people have always mistaked me for a good 5 years older than I really am. It was great before I was 21....

#11 Post by **geekgirl** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:51 am

I'm kinda looking forward to being a teenager again, once I get my braces. At 27, I definitely have all the responsibilites of an adult, but I've always (apparently) looked young. I still get IDed buying booze (and the age here is only 19!) I don't get it, because i'm picking out random grey hairs and swearing at the lines appearing on my face, but what do I know...

But with braces, I'm guessing I'm going to have to keep the ID handy until I'm at least 30!

I've got my appointment for the records and xrays to be done in a couple hours - I'm psyched to be finally getting started!

Wed Sep 07, 2005 5:38 pm

I stopped by work after being braced this morning and our receptionist complimented me on how "young and cute" I look now. I said, "yeah, except I look 12."

Her response...
"well, you only ever looked 13 to me to begin with"

HA! I'm 29 and she's a lousy liar, but you gotta love it.

#13 Post by **TuZZi** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 1:02 am

I'm 26, and people constantly would ask me for ID because they wouldn't believe how old I was when I told them. Now with braces.... same deal, except they think I'm younger!!

Before braces people thought I was 17-18 years old and still in highschool or just starting college. I actually had to whip out my ID at work the other day because this woman (who doesn't know me very well, but knows who I am) didn't believe I was 26 and had graduated highschool AND college already. It was quite the moment.

#14 Post by **eurydice** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 5:25 am

My daughter wants to take me to school for her show-and-tell session, as they're doing a project on Teeth this term!!!