Getting your kids to be excited about, or even remotely interested in oral hygiene is quite a struggle and to be honest had it not been for the amazing support of our dentist Dr. Kami Hoss, I don’t think the kids would ever had really ‘got it’. Here in LA there is an amazing dental community but it wasn’t until we met Dr. Hoss that the kids really began to engage in what was going on. In fact the love Kami so much that when he moved his offices down to SD from Los Angeles, we were more than prepared to remain his patients and we will happily drive down to San Diego for appointments. Based on how well the kids did with Kami’s advice I wanted to share with you 5 ways which you can use to get your kids more interested in their teeth.
Buying Brushes
Letting the kids buy their own toothbrushes proved to be a very good way for us to get them more invested in brushing their teeth. This was so simple but had a huge impact. I guess the thing is that kids love to have their own things so having their own brush meant more to them.
Explaining
Something which I think many parents are guilty of, myself included, is not properly explaining things to kids, and simply telling them what to do. BEcasue of this one suggestion which Kami made was to properly detail to them what happens when they clean their teeth and the dangers of them not doing it. This really seemed to land when I spoke to the kids.
Horror
Something which I was very much worried abut but tried anyway was a little but of school therapy for the kids. I showed them some photos of people who had most certainly not been looking after their teeth, and it scared the life out of the kids. Whilst this was certainly a risky strategy, it really worked well.
Brushing Together
One way that we found to really get the kids brushing their teeth with regularity was to brush together as a family. What has worked out to be a good idea however has taken on a life of itself and my husband and I are regularly woken up by the kids so that we can all go for a communal brush!
Competition
This one may not work with all kids, but mine are super competitive and if yours are too then you can play on this to get them to look after their teeth better. Dr. Hoss was kind enough to play along with this and each visit which we make to the dentist, I get him to score the kids out of ten. There is always a 10 for one and a 9.5 for the other, and the winner gets a very small treat. This has really encouraged the kids to take better care of their teeth.
Give these tips a try and see how they get on.
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