When you make the decision to have kids, you probably never realized how much of your time would be spent getting stuff out of other stuff. Stains out of ... everything. Toys out of the toilet. Gum or slime out of hair. And yes, small items out of your child's nose. We're not entirely sure what it is in a kid's brain that makes sticking small items up their nose seem like a good idea. But every single kid does it at least once in their life. Usually just the one time, because it's a fairly unpleasant experience and they learn that lesson pretty quickly.

Now, with your first child, you probably panicked and rushed them off to the emergency room to extract whatever it is they stuck up their nose. Candy, Lego pieces, dog food, wads of paper - we've seen it all. But with subsequent kids, running off to the ER for every item shoved in a nostril can get a little inconvenient. That's why you need to familiarize yourself with the "mother's kiss" method of nose extractions. It's pretty genius (and a little gross).

The mother's kiss is pretty simple: you block the remaining airways, and blow the object out. Here's how to do it, step-by-step: first, you close the unstuffed nostril with your finger. Then, place your mouth over your child's mouth, like you're going to perform CPR. It's important that their entire mouth is covered. Next, you're going to blow really hard into their mouth. Finally, be prepared for whatever is shoved up their nose to fly out and hit you right in the face.

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Even if the mother's kiss doesn't completely dislodge the object, it should loosen it enough and move it down enough for you to pull it out. The mother's kiss is also a lot less invasive than using forceps or tweezers to pry the object out, so you're less likely to end up with a traumatized kid with a bloody nose. It's a win-win all around! And don't worry: the sharp blow into your kid's mouth isn't going to hurt them or inflate their lungs or anything.

When you blow into their mouth, their epiglottis closes their airway, which forces the air into their nostrils. Since you're blocking the open nostril, the full force of the breath will move to the nostril blocked by whatever your kids stuck up there, and hopefully force it out. It may seem weird, and the snot-covered item hitting you in the face isn't the best, but it'll save you a trip to the ER (and probably a $1000 bill, too!).