Having a hard time convincing your toddler to brush? Here are some fun tricks that you can use to teach your children all about dental hygiene.
Be a Good Role Model
Your kids will follow what they see you do. If you display good dental hygiene, chances are that your kids will inculcate the same habits without much fuss. When you brush your teeth, be happy that you're doing it. Make it look like a fun and enthusiastic activity and the kids will want to do it too. Use electric/powered brushes, cartoon brushes and other fun items to get their attention.
Story Telling
Kids grasp faster when you explain something to them via a fun story that has a carefully plugged in moral. Through your narratives, bring imaginary characters to life and explain the importance of dental hygiene to your kids. Talk about how the sugar bugs make holes in our teeth if we don't brush them away. Sometimes kids just need a good story to get on board!
Seeing is Believing
Make your kids believe you when you tell them the horrors of lack of dental hygiene. Bring home a disclosing agent, available at the chemist and dental offices, to clearly show them the plaque on their teeth. Disclosing agents stain the plaque deposited on the teeth & make these areas visible. This way they will see for themselves how brushing makes a difference and strictly adhere to their brushing schedules.
Make Brushing Time, Play Time
To make the brushing experience more entertaining and thus doable for your child, link brush strokes to train wheels. Having kids think of the wheels of a train helps them to make correct brushing strokes. Learning to brush the right way is very important for your child as incorrect brushing may damage the enamel layer of the teeth.
Make bubbles
The more bubbles your kids create, the better they will brush. So encourage them to make more bubbles, by making a playful contest out of it. Little games make boring brushing routines more fun.
Brushing With Toy Friends
For extra encouragement, have your kids bring their favourite stuffed animal or doll into the bathroom, and have them brush their toy’s teeth along with their own. You can also create a game where your child's toothbrush is a superhero that needs to rescue/brush each tooth from the plaque monsters.
Favourite Toothpaste
Take your kids along when you go to purchase toothpaste. Help them pick up the best toothpaste in India- Babool. Get them excited about brushing with it when they get back home. This way they will feel obliged to follow a decision they have taken for themselves.
Keep Time in The Fun Way
Experts recommend that your kids should brush for at least 3-5 minutes by the watch. Encourage them to not give up brushing before that by singing to them their favourite rhymes or by giving them a fun countdown while they brush. Adequate duration of brushing is important to achieve the desired cleaning outcomes in the mouth.
Shower Them With Compliments
Ultimately, as with any task you want to encourage, praise your kids when they do it, especially when they do it with the correct strokes and for two solid minutes.
Despite trying out these fun methods, if you're still having brushing stress at home with your kids, consult your dentist for more advice. Maintain proper oral hygiene and choose the right toothpaste to keep all dental problems away & ensure proper dental care.