How To Encourage Your Kids To Brush Their Teeth
Children often just don’t care about personal hygiene. They love nothing more than getting as dirty as possible, wearing stains like trophies of a successful day spent adventuring. While clothes and skin can be easily cleaned, the stains in teeth can lead to cavities and tooth decay, and so convincing your kids of the importance of oral hygiene is a vital skill they will carry with them throughout their lives.
Getting a Routine Going
More often than not, a child will do the opposite of what you tell them. Being rebellious is just part of a child’s seemingly independent demeanour. However, there is still a routine which most children will follow during their day, which has become programmed into them.
Brushing their teeth should be one of the morning and nightly tasks along with eating, getting dressed, taking a bath and so on. If you can successfully slot in brushing teeth into this routine, it will soon become part of their daily schedule. The following tips will help with integration.
Play some Music
Kids love listening to music and dancing. A great way to make anything seem fun is if you attach a theme song to it. This will help them relax while brushing their teeth, something which often feels unnatural or even scary to a child.
By associating the joy of music and dance with brushing their teeth, it will allow them to associate this process as an enjoyable experience. There are even electric toothbrushes that play music!
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Role Playing
Kids love nothing more than fantasizing any event. If you make up a little story surrounding brushing their teeth, it will make it seems like an exciting quest that they will be only too happy to engage in.
You could tell them that their teeth are actually magical diamonds that were gifted to us by a magical fairy so that we could eat our food, and it is our job to look after them or she will be very sad.
Buying the Right Toothbrush and Toothpaste
Your child’s aversion to brushing their teeth might be because they hate the taste of their toothpaste, or for some other reason such as the design of their toothbrush does not feel comfortable in their mouths, or they don’t like its colouring.
You could then consider taking them shopping for a new one, and allow them to handpick whichever one is the most attractive. Try to get the best-tasting toothpaste that suits your child’s taste buds.
These tips should definitely help in getting your kid closer towards a lifetime appreciation for oral hygiene and maintenance. The skills that we learn as youngsters stay with us forever. You know your child best, however, so try and edit these tips around their personalities.