“With all germs and dirt lurking, I am not encouraging my kids to throw on a face mask that’s been on the floor.”
What does the floor of your car look like? If it’s anything like mine, you might find a ripped book, crushed Goldfish, the remains of a juice box, Georgia red clay, and at least one sock. A broken whiffle ball. Half of a spelling quiz. Oh, and a face mask shoved under a seat, clinging to a sticky substance.
It’s been a few years since I popped a pacifier in someone’s mouth, and since we knew nothing of COVID-19 back then, I’d do it without fully sanitizing it first. As a mom of twins, germs never scared me. They’re impossible to avoid.
But now? With all germs and dirt lurking, I am not encouraging my kids to throw on a face mask that’s been on the floor. Washing those suckers is such a pain. They get stuck inside a pair of shorts, wrinkled to death by the time you’ve forgotten to take them out of the dryer.
One Atlanta woman – an entrepreneurial, problem-solving, mom of three kids – saw this problem coming from a mile away. I can’t speak to the cleanliness of her minivan, but her kids’ masks never touch the floor.
Kimberly Wilson is one of those moms who carries an enormous purse full of snacks, toys, a first aid kit. Your name, she’s got it. And with three kids, staying home all day, every day could only last for so long. When COVID-19 became the new norm, she realized her bottomless purse was not ideal for mask storage.
She realized there was no way her three-, five-, and nine-year-old were going to responsibly place their face mask into a clean bag or pocket. Nope, those were going straight to the floor.
She needed a strap that would snap onto the mask so the kids could hang it like a necklace. Get out of the car, put on your mask. Hop back in, take it off and it stays clean. (Don’t tell her husband, but she said he’s guilty of losing his stuff too.)
So she invented Facemask Friend. They come in solid colors – black, white, gray, pink, blue, and red — so you can wear them with any mask. You can wash them with or without a mask attached, hang them to dry, and you’re done!
Facemask Friend is one of the many options I have found to help keep facemasks from falling. Etsy has several that are reasonably priced and stylish and Amazon also offers a variety of options.
This summer we drove from Georgia to Massachusetts. That’s 18 hours with one overnight stop on the border of Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The car was loaded up: two adults and three kids, Kindles, books, puzzles, snacks, and lots of water. We stopped to stretch. We stopped to potty. We stopped to switch spots because kids were arguing. We stopped to switch drivers.
Every stop, someone had lost a shoe. But thanks to this handy tool, no one had lost a face mask!
My husband wears his Facemask Friend when running errands, so he doesn’t have to shove it in his pocket while popping in and out of stores. I wear mine while walking in my neighborhood. That way, I can slip my mask on quickly when a neighbor approaches to chat. And when I’m alone, I can hang the mask conveniently around my neck.
What have you found to help keep your Facemasks from getting lost?
