5 Ways to get Your Toddler to Brush Their Teeth!
Hi Parents! If you're reading this you probably have a toddler who is refusing to brush their teeth! Welcome to the club. You are certainly not alone! We need our toddlers to brush their teeth for good oral health but we don't want to force them... so what do we do?! This article is going to help you with just that!
Toddlers love variety. A strategy for enticing co-operation at teeth brushing time might work one day, but the next day it could be completely ineffective. To that end, we, as parents, need to have a collection of parenting tools up our sleeve so that we can pull them out when required.
With this in mind I have put together a list of 5 ways you can encourage your child to brush their teeth so that you don't have to hold them down and force them, because as I'm sure you'll agree, that is not pleasant for anyone!
Before I start revealing these super useful teeth brushing strategies I would like to encourage you to first prepare your bathroom to enable your toddler's independence. Toddler's thrive on independence and are far more likely to follow your requests if they feel empowered. Needless to say it is well worth the effort! Toddlers want to be just like you! They want to be able to step up to the sink, use the tap, put the tooth paste on, and actually brush themselves (you will also want to follow up brush afterwards to ensure they got all the tricky spots).
To enable this independence I encourage you to source the following...
I'd like to also remind you that you are a very powerful role model for your little learner and this is the easiest way to encourage good oral health. Brush your teeth in front of your child and talk about how nice it feels to have clean teeth. When you're eating something 'hard' or 'chewy' tell them that you're so glad you brush your teeth so well because now your teeth are strong and healthy and are good for biting and chewing. You might be surprised at how pointing out and exaggerating the positive things that you do can have such a profound impact on your child's actions! They are watching everything you do (closely) it is very responsible work... this parenting gig!
Okay, without further ado. Here are 5 ways you can get your child to brush their teeth!
1. The Tickly Teeth Trick
If Master or Miss Toddler is refusing to brush his/her teeth today then tell them your not going to brush them, your just going to tickle them. Say "open wide..." Then say "tickle, tickle, tickle" as you brush and laugh loudly along with them." That should be fun for a few days.
2. First Teeth, Then...
Most children have a favourite book which they love to read or a favourite game they like to play. Get them really excited about the book/game first. "Shall we read the train book/play the Ringa Ringa Rosie game?". "Okay we can do that, but first we just need to brush our teeth." Dangle that irresistible carrot and then sneakily get the tooth brushing in there riding on the coat tails of the fun activity..
3. Variety is the Spice of Life!
Toddlers love variety and choice. Why not embrace this and have a selection of tooth brushes to choose from. Sometimes giving them some power in the situation can make all the difference to their willingness to comply.
4. You do Mine, I do yours
Ask your toddler if he/she would like to brush your teeth? Once he/she has done it, then say okay now it's my turn to brush yours. You could do this back and forth for a while.
Alternatively you could suggest that your little learner brushes a toy's teeth and then you could brush your toddler's teeth. This is so hilarious to a toddler!
5. Make a Personalised Book
Children LOVE to see themselves in photos... imagine them being the star of their very own brushing teeth book! Have pages which educate your child about the importance of having healthy teeth and then take photos of them doing each step of the process. Get this printed into a photo book (Snapfish or Kroma etc.). Read this everyday and before long your little learner will be begging you to go and brush their teeth just like in the book! The best part is, they'll be doing it for all the right reasons, e.g. good oral health, not just because you told them to. So you'll be setting them up for life long healthy habits. If you would like to make a personalised book for your child but maybe don't have the time then please get in touch I'd be happy to put one together for you.
I hope you found this article helpful! Do let us know if you tried some of these strategies out with your little one and which ones you found to be successful!
All the best and here's good oral health in your home!
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