Parenting: Toddlers and Brushing Teeth

Parenting: Toddlers and Brushing Teeth - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. Hi, I am Dr. Laura Markham of ahaparenting.com. How can you get your toddler to brush his teeth? Well, this is a tough situation with a toddler because think about it. Imagine yourself. Somebody wants to brush your teeth. You have never brushed them in your life and you have no interest in doing so. You are not really sure what it is for or why it would be important and somebody takes this toothbrush and says, “say ah” and they go in there and they start moving around in your mouth. Right? Would you enjoy that? I do not think so. If you did not think it was important, would you resist that? I think you probably would. I think we all would. Right? So what has a toddler to do? The toddler hates having his teeth brushed. Why should he have them brushed? Well, because we know our kids actually have to get in the habit or they can get cavities and we do not want what happens after that. So, what do you do to get your kid to brush his teeth given that he is going to hate it? It is not a really great situation. None of us love going to the dentist, probably. Okay, what do you do? Number one: you see it from his point of view. He does not necessarily like it, right? Number two: you use the things that actually motivate your toddler to try new things. What motivates him? He wants to be like you. So you brush your teeth and have your toddler stand on a stool next to you looking in the same mirror in your bathroom brushing his teeth at the same time. Is he going to get his teeth very clean? Probably not. But you are just trying to get the habit going in the beginning. And you can also have him brush and then you can finish up. If he does not want you to finish up in his mouth, trade off. Say, “You can finish up in my mouth and I am gonna finish up in yours at the same time.” Make it really quick as you can, ok? Because you do not wanna - it is great he let’s you in there in his mouth, so do not drag it out. Make it quick. Ok, so that is one great way. Another thing you can do is you can make it really fun for your toddler. Some toddlers love electric toothbrushes, some hate them. Try it out. Some toddlers love to pick their own toothbrush that has, you know, the Superman motif on it or whatever. Some toddlers love it when you sing them a song. Or when you make it into a game where, “Okay. Where do you want to brush your teeth tonight? You want to brush them on the kitchen counter or do you want to brush your teeth in the backyard? or Do you want to brush your teeth on daddy’s shoulders?” All kinds of places that your kid can pick to brush his teeth, as long as he brushes them. Right? You can also make it a game where you are brushing and saying “Wait a minute I see broccoli in there! Wait a minute! Are those scrambled eggs from breakfast still?” You make it a game like that. If your kid is giggling, you are fine. So, anytime you can turn something into a game where your child is giggling, it is a great thing. And there are a lot of games that you can play if you are creative enough. I know, you think your child should just brush his teeth for goodness sakes! Me too. But guess what? He does not have a lot of motivation to do it. So we provide the motivation for him and you know what the good news is? Eventually your child is going to brush his own teeth You will not have to do anything except in the beginning maybe even ask if he did it. And after a while he is going to be brushing his own teeth and you will not have to think about it twice. And you will have much more important things to think about, like should you give him the car keys tonight.