Boogers - a "best of" post from the past

I have a yucky cold. Rich and Kiel have it too, although I was the only wimpy one to stay home in bed today.


I'm jealous of Kiel's cold, because his boogers come in ice cream flavors. Last night they tasted like chocolate, tonight like vanilla. Just to be clear, that's what he told me. Despite his generous offers I have not tasted them.

And because I feel icky, and Rich wants to watch a movie, I'm going to cheat and re-post something I wrote for the now defunct Philly Moms Blog a couple years ago

Are booger eaters smarter than booger wipers?

I was at a birthday party recently with my 7 year-old son. While the kids were making their party favors several of the moms were sitting around talking. Of course our conversation turned to kids, and as we witnessed one of the boys mine for nostril gold, the conversation turned to kids and boogers.

One of the mom's commented that kids are either booger eaters or booger wipers, and then speculated that whether or not a kid was a booger eater or a booger wiper was genetic. It turned into quite the conversation as we compared notes and yes, our own personal booger history (booger wiper!). I was surprised at how some of the moms even knew if their husbands were eaters or wipers as kids (mine claims he was, and still is, a wiper).

Since I'm not linked genetically to either of my boys (I have both an eater and a wiper, btw) I really couldn't comment on the theory per se, but it certainly is an interesting twist on the nature versus nurture debate.

While clearly a silly conversation, it did get me thinking. So, like all good pseudo-scientists, I turned to the internet to see what it had to say about booger picking and found this little gem about booger eating. It appears that a few years ago Dr. Friedrich Bischinger, a lung specialist in Austria, gained some notoriety by endorsing the picking and eating of boogers, especially by children. According to Dr. Bischinger people who pick their noses with their fingers (the finger is key, yo!) are healthier, happier, and more in tune with their bodies.

Apparently, the finger is key because it allows you to dig into the nooks and crannies that a handkerchief or tissue can't reach, keeping your nose cleaner. And the only comment I have to this is, "well, duhh!"

He also claims that "eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strengthening the body's immune system. The nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria is collected, and when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just like a medicine."  

 

I suppose this makes sense in a rather ewwww kind of way if you discount the effects of stomach acid, etc.. However, as I sit here enduring day three of the cold from hell, I can't say I'm at all motivated to test out his theory. Nor am I very concerned that my career as a pharmacist is at risk.

I just wish I had this little gem of information during our momversation about eating and wiping. Because if Dr. B's theory is true, now I'm wondering if there isn't a genetic link between booger eating and intelligence.

"Oh just look at my little Johnny, such a smart boy eating his own boogers! He takes after his daddy you know."

So how about you? Are your kids eaters or wipers? Or as my Facebook friends pointed out, flickers? Or is flicking a subcategory of wiping? And what about those of you with booger farmers? 

Oh my, who knew there could be such complexity to boogers!