A Proper Teaspoon

It’s amazing how many parents child-proof their homes, put in latches so that kids can’t get to cleaning supplies, put plugs in electrical outlets and gates in front of stairs – but don’t have a proper medicinal teaspoon. When a prescription calls for giving a child one teaspoonful of a liquid, it does NOT mean take a teaspoon out of the kitchen drawer – it means use an accurate measure. A medicinal teaspoon has 5 milliliters, while household teaspoons may have anywhere from 3 to 6 milliliters.

The best medicinal teaspoons are the ones that look like test tubes with marks on the side. They can be a little bit harder to use, and a lot harder to clean, than some other designs, but they give a more accurate measurement than either the ones that look like spoons or the ones that are packaged with bottles of pediatric medicine.