|
Our 3-year old daughter was interested in brushing her teeth when she saw mommy & daddy brushing, so we had her try and for a while she liked doing it all by herself. However, our she doesn't seem to find it fun anymore and has stopped wanting to do it. How can we get her to start brushing again, even though it isn't "fun"? We'd like to try some gentle encouragement first before we get more strict. Or should we just be strict? We're taking her to the dentist for the first time this week and I'm embarrassed at our failure to instill the habit! :-/ Update: (two days after I asked the question) Our daughter just saw an episode of Elmo's World today where the topic was teeth, and Mr. Noodles was brushing his teeth, and then they showed some kids brushing their teeth... and now she wants to brush her teeth again! Sesame Street rocks :-) |
|
Number one: make it a routine. Wake up and brush your teeth. Routines are the stuff habits are made of. Other thoughts:
Thoughts are all great, particularly the "doctor" one. Would just add that you could show pictures of some decayed teeth !! We did that, and were very blase about it, and it did have a good effect.
(14 Oct '09, 08:42)
Emi
Thanks for the advice!
(15 Oct '09, 12:05)
Chris W. Rea
|
|
If you have a Chuck E. Cheese in the area, you could try their "Teeth Brushing" reward calendar. If they brush their teeth every day for 2 weeks (get a sticker/checkmark for each day) to fill up the chart, they get 10 free tokens to use at Chuck E. Cheese. They also have reward charts for other chores/activities. http://www.chuckecheese.com/promotions/rewards-calendars.php Wow that's pretty cool, kudos to Chuck E. Cheese! :)
(14 Oct '09, 06:27)
Sabrina
Neat. We took her once, with my older niece, but she was afraid of the mechanical mascots. :-/ We'll try again now that she's a little older.
(15 Oct '09, 12:06)
Chris W. Rea
|
Yeay for Elmo and Mr. Noodle...however annoying they may be for us! My daughter can wrap a very good present thanks to Mr. Noodle's brother Mr. Noodle. lol :) I wonder if they have the teeth episode on DVD. Maybe that would help encourage my daughter as well!