7 Ways To Get Your Kids Excited To Brush Their Teeth
Every February we celebrate national children’s dental health month to bring together health care professionals to celebrate the awareness and benefits of promoting strong dental health habits among children. Developing good dental habits at a young age can last a lifetime promoting healthy teeth, gums, and brighter smiles.
Get Your Kids Brushing For Children's Dental Health Month!
Even as adults, brushing can be an inconvenience at times. For kids, it can get in the way of playtime, screentime, or can simply be boring so it is important to make sure that you make brushing fun. Here are a few ways you can promote your children to brush their teeth.
1. Lead by example
If your kids see you brushing your teeth, they may be more inclined to do it themselves. As a parent, you are their greatest role model and they will follow in your footsteps. Brush your teeth with your kids or at least let them see that you brush your teeth twice per day to encourage them to want to do the same. Showing the rewarding factors of brushing your teeth may make your kids more inclined to do the same.
2. Make it visual
One way to help keep kids on track of brushing is to create a calendar and mark it with stickers or pen to show them how consistently and often they are brushing their teeth. The visual stimuli will help to keep them consistently brushing and there are psychological benefits to being able to check off tasks when they are completed helping to solidify the behavior as a habit. A visual aid that showcases their consistency will give your kids something to be proud of and can also help to show them the long term satisfaction that comes with patience once they’ve filled up a month or several with consistent brushing
3. Set rewards
Making brushing your teeth rewarding for kids will incentivize them to stick with it regularly. Set simple goals such as brushing everyday for a week and provide a simple reward if they are able to complete that goal. If you set a goal and they fail to reach it, it is important to abstain from giving them the award regardless.This can send the wrong message and can teach the behavior that they can get away with not brushing and still get rewarded for it which is the opposite of what we want to accomplish. For short milestones, rewards for kids brushing twice a day can be anything from a simple treat like frozen yogurt or a small toy. For longer milestones such as brushing consistently for several months you may want to reward them with something slightly larger.
4. Plaque coloring rinse
There are certain mouthwashes or tablets available that can change the color of your teeth on spots where there is plaque. Not only do these rinses help to show kids all of the plaque buildup they may have but they may find it as slightly gross, weird, or cool enough where they are fascinated by it encouraging them to brush more. There are also dental benefits to using these plaque revealing rinses since it will show kids spots that they are missing on their teeth and where they need to brush better. Since many of these are meant to be used before brushing your teeth there is also a satisfaction to removing it as they brush.
5. Praise them
A little praise and recognition can go a long way for a job well done. It can get tiresome after one, or several months of telling your kids they’ve done a good job or giving a high five. However, that recognition and approval from their guardian and mentor of a job well done can be one of the most motivating factors for them to stick with the routine. It is one of the simplest ways to show praise and doesn’t cost you anything.
6. 2 minute Dance Party
It is recommended to brush your teeth twice a day for two minutes. Play your child’s favorite song that is at least 2 minutes long! They can listen to the song while brushing their teeth! This is a creative way to create a 2 minute timer.
7. Character Themed
Have your child get excited about brushing their teeth with their favorite character! Have them pick out their toothbrush and toothpaste with their favorite character on it. They may be more excited to brush their teeth with Elsa’s or Spiderman’s help!
Additionally, on the American Dental Association's website, posters in both spanish and english can be printed and postcards can be purchased. Other activities such as crosswords, coloring pages, word searches, and brushing calendars are available to download and print to promote brushing teeth for kids!
Schedule Your Appointment
Celebrate National Kids Dental Health Month by starting off February with good brushing habits for your children! Schedule an appointment with our Pediatric Dental office - Little Smiles of Port Washington - A Dental365 Company, today!
